More troops for the Army

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates just announced that the Department of Defense will add 22,000 more soldiers to the Army. The problem is this--not only are Islamic extremists killing and maiming our military personnel, we are adding to their misery through shortened "dwell" times, which leads to greater personnel turbulence. "Dwell time" is the time that units spend back in the States after finishing a tour of duty overseas--particularly Iraq and Afghanistan. Although the dwell time for most units is supposed to be 15 months, the increased operational tempo has shortened this to less than a year. The result, troops are being returned to combat more frequently than they expected or were promised. Secretary Gates announced in March of this year that the Army will end their STOP LOSS program (sometimes called a "Back Door Draft") in which military personnel are held on active duty beyond the end of their enlistment. However, it will be two years before the last of of the 13,200 soldiers serving under "stop loss" rules are allowed to leave the service. No one can predict how many will vote with their feet and leave when given the opportunity. This is part of the reason for the 22,000 troop increase.

The other reasons most often stated has to do with reducing the "perstempo" or shortened dwell time and increasing the pool of personnel available for combat duty, thus increasing "readiness"; however that is defined.

When I challenged the endorsement of this increase by the Military Officers Association of America, it was implied that I was unpatriotic and that I was all for increasing the misery of military personnel.

What I am for is for getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan. The Department of Defense has said that we might be in Afghanistan for another decade, which will make our stay there almost 20 years--the longest war we have ever been involved in. Yes, we have been in Europe and Japan for more than 60 years and in Korea for more than 50 years, but they aren't shooting at us. There is nothing to-date that leads me to believe that Islamic extremists will relent--they are in this for the long haul. Another decade means nothng to them.

We lost more than 58,000 folks in Vietnam and we have lost more than 5,000 in Iraq and Afghanistan. The numbers of those that have suffered injuries that have forever altered their lives is mind boggling. Perhaps as many as 150,000--so many that the Veterans' Administration is unable to provide adequate care for all of them. More and more "Wounded Warrior" programs are cropping up where injured veterans are being cared for outside military and veteran facilities.

If creating a readiness crisis is what is required, then I am all for it. Something has to get the attention of our leaders in governemtn and in the military establishment.