Articles on Webb Amendment
(S. 2001)
Congress Daily
Making dwell time
equal to deployment
Webb expects plan to gain bipartisan
support
By Rick Maze, Military Times
July 09, 2007
Senator seeks one month home for every
month spent downrange
By: Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
July 4, 2007
New Effort to End War Set Monday
By: Ari Lamm, New York Sun
July 5, 2007
Webb’s deployment amendment will open
debate on defense bill
July 03, 2007
Articles on Deployment Cycles
Guard, Families Say
Their Goodbyes
Some Md. Soldiers Headed to Iraq For Second Tour
By Steve Vogel,
Washington Post
May 26, 2007
Stretched Army Sends
Troops Back to Iraq
By LOLITA C.
BALDOR, The Associated Press
April 3, 2007
Congress
Daily
The Senate will focus on the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill next
week, which Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said will become the
Democrats' latest vehicle for language addressing the Iraq war.
While the amendment schedule is not yet clear, the Senate is likely to start
with an amendment from Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., that would set minimum time
periods between troop deployments, a spokeswoman for Webb said. He is expected
to introduce language Monday, setting the stage for a likely vote Wednesday or
Thursday.
Earlier efforts by Democrats to attach Iraq language to a supplemental
spending measure failed, with President Bush vetoing one version and lawmakers
dropping it from a second version after another veto was threatened. But Reid
has said the efforts to alter war policy would continue, on the defense
authorization bill as well as other upcoming legislation.
The Senate will start the week with votes Monday afternoon on four judicial
nominations.
The House floor schedule for next week remains in flux. None of the six
outstanding fiscal 2008 appropriations bills will be brought to the floor
because the Appropriations Committee is still working to complete the list of
earmarks attached to the spending bills. Floor consideration of those bills,
which leaders hope to wrap up before the start of the August recess, is
expected to begin the week of July 16.
But lawmakers will, late in the week, take up legislation boosting federal
funding for college aid programs. Action is also possible on legislation
dealing with the FDA's drug-approval process and federal housing programs.
Making dwell time
equal to deployment
Webb expects plan to gain bipartisan support
By Rick Maze, Military Times
July 09, 2007
A freshman
senator and combat veteran vows to do what he says active-duty military leaders
should have done long ago: Set a rotation schedule for combat that guarantees
at least as much time at home as in the war zone.
The 1-to-1
rotation plan would apply to all the services, although it is mostly aimed at
Army and Marine Corps ground troops.
“If we want to
be honest about the best way to support our troops, we can start with the
rotation policy,” said Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., a decorated Marine veteran of the
Vietnam War, best-selling author of books about wartime valor and courage, and
former Navy secretary.
On behalf of
Senate Democrats, Webb is pushing an amendment to the 2008 defense budget to
guarantee more time at home — “dwell time” — for combat troops.
Webb said his
amendment is simple.
“Basically, it
says you cannot send anyone back unless they have been home as long as they
were gone, unless they want to go back - you could volunteer,” he said. “If you
were deployed for 12 months, you get 12 months at home. If you were deployed
for seven months, you get seven months at home. If you were gone 15 months, you
get 15 months at home.”
While he calls
his proposal simple, such deployment restrictions have been opposed by the Bush
administration, and this plan could hold up passage of the defense budget. But
Webb thinks there would be bipartisan support for his proposal and said he is
ready to face critics.
In response to
complaints about back-to-back combat tours that leave troops little time to recover,
wind down and spend time with their families, military officials often have
said they are a consequence of serving in uniform while the nation is at war
— and that troops just have to make the sacrifice.
Webb, however,
said that isn’t good enough. “After four years of predictable operations, op
tempo should be designed to protect the well-being of troops,” Webb said.
“I am very
disappointed in the active-duty leadership,” he said. “Who is going to take
care of the troops if they aren’t? Military leaders have failed to act to
protect the rotation policy, so we need to do so. We owe this to the people who
have stepped forward to serve our nation.
“This is
something that needs to be done, should already have been done. This is, in my
view, the most glaring problem the military is facing in terms of readiness.”
“It is time to
fit the strategy to the troops you have,” he said.
That view is
shared by a prominent Republican, Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, who broke with
the administration with a surprise announcement June 25 that the Bush strategy
on Iraq is not working.
Under Webb’s
plan, the dwell-time rules would take effect the day the bill is enacted, so it
would affect those who have just returned, as well as those on deployment and
those who would deploy in the future, he said.
His plan
includes a provision for waiving the rules “for a true operations crisis, such
as something on the Korean peninsula,” he said. The president would have to
certify that an emergency existed if involuntary deployments would cut into
promised time at home.
Webb expects
bipartisan support, though how much he will get from Republicans is not clear.
One hurdle he
faces is the possibility of a presidential veto of the defense bill if it
contains his deployment restriction. The Pentagon and White House have opposed
similar restrictions, but a growing number of Senate Republicans have shown a
willingness to break with the administration on Iraq policy.
An example of
the kind of support Webb expects is Lugar’s June 25 announcement, in which he
cited the strain on the military as one reason the administration needs to try
something new.
“The window
during which we can continue to employ American troops in Iraqi neighborhoods
without damaging our military strength or our ability to respond to other
national security priorities is closing,” Lugar said. “American armed forces
are incredibly resilient, but Iraq is taking a toll on recruitment and
readiness.”
“The prospects
that the current surge strategy will succeed in the way originally envisioned
by the president are very limited within the short period framed by our own
domestic political debate, he said. “And, the strident polarized nature of that
debate increases the risk that our involvement in Iraq will end in a poorly
planned withdrawal that undercuts our vital interests in the Middle East.”
Senate
Democratic Leader Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada said Lugar’s break with the White
House could signal a turning tide.
“Some floor
speeches go unnoticed, but Senator Lugar’s is not one of them,” Reid said.
Webb said he
thinks the amendment can withstand Bush administration criticism because it
does not interfere with the commander-in-chief’s executive powers; the
Constitution gives Congress power to make rules and regulations for the
military.
There is
precedent for similar actions, he said, such as during the Korean War, when
Congress outlawed deployment of troops who had not received at least 120 days
of military training.
“The precedent
is that Congress has stepped in when they have not seen military people
properly used,” Webb said.
His amendment
carries some controversy because it applies to individuals, counting each
person’s time deployed and time at home. Some members of the Senate Armed
Services Committee had argued that only unit deployments, not individual
deployments, should be counted.
But Webb does
not believe that would prevent passage.
“In my bill,
you look at the individual,” Webb said. “It shouldn’t be that difficult.
Everyone knows the date they deployed. Everyone knows the date they returned.”
Webb said the
issue involves what happens when someone changes units after a deployment, and
their new unit gets a deployment order. Webb said he did not see this is a
major problem, and certainly not a problem that should deny a service member
time at home.
By sticking to
dwell time, Webb said, he expects wide agreement “that this is a line you
draw.”
Webb said he
began working on the proposal after President Bush vetoed the 2007 war funding
bill earlier this year because it included several deployment restrictions,
including limits on tour lengths, restrictions on deploying anyone who wasn’t
fully trained and equipped, and a similar promise of a 1-to-1
deployment-to-dwell-time ratio.
White House
officials cited the deployment limits, whose chief sponsor was another former
Marine, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House defense appropriations
panel, as part of the reason for the veto.
“I reviewed the
provisions, and looked for one that was simply understood that everyone could
support,” Webb said.
He said he
believes the idea of troops receiving as much time at home as they spend
deployed “is an unassailable bottom line ... for anyone.”
Senator seeks one month home for every month spent downrange
By: Lisa
Burgess, Stars and Stripes
July 4, 2007
ARLINGTON, Va. — A lawmaker whose own Marine son has deployed to Iraq
is pressing for a law guaranteeing all servicemembers one month at home for
every month they are deployed.
Freshman Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., himself a former Marine, will on Monday
introduce an amendment to the 2008 defense budget that proposes 1-to-1 dwell
time for all U.S. military personnel, his spokeswoman, Jessica Smith, told
Stars and Stripes on Monday.
The bill “is basically going to say that on the active side, however long an
individual has been deployed, they have to be allowed to stay home at least
that long before you send them back,” Webb said in a Friday speech on the
Senate floor.
“If you’re Guard and Reserve, however long you’ve been deployed, you have to
be able to have been at home at least three times that length before you’re
sent back, because of the nature of the Guard and Reserve.
Webb was traveling out of the country and not available to talk with Stripes
the week of July 4, Smith said.
He is introducing his bill even though Defense Secretary Robert Gates has
already introduced a policy on dwell time because, Webb said, “we still are
reaching the point where we’re burning out our troops.”
Webb’s proposal differs from the 12-month dwell-time policy put in place by
Gates because his bill is geared towards individuals.
The Pentagon policy, however, is directed at units, according to Pentagon
spokesman Bryan Whitman.
Gates’ policy requires units to spend a minimum of 12 months back home after
15-month deployments. Units that are in danger of “breaking dwell” must request
a waiver from the Pentagon, Whitman said.
“We manage dwell by units,” Whitman said Tuesday, in part because of the
need for units to reconstitute and train as a whole; and also because of the
complexity of trying to manage dwell time all the way down to each single
individual.
Managing dwell time on an individual basis is diffcult, Whitman said,
because so many servicemembers return from deployments and transfer to other
units, or go to professional schools and are then reassigned to units that
happen to be “in the pipe” to deploy.
In order for the amendment to become law, it will have to pass the Senate,
and then either survive in conference negotiations with the House or be
introduced in and pass the House defense budget.
There is no version of the bill in the House, Smith said.
New Effort to End War Set Monday
By: Ari
Lamm, New York Sun
July 5, 2007
WASHINGTON — Five weeks after President Bush won unfettered funding
for America to fight the war in Iraq until September, Senate Democrats will try
again on Monday to end the war.
Their opening gambit this summer will be three key amendments to the 2008
bill that authorizes defense spending. The bill is set to be marked up on July
9. Most appealing to wavering Republicans will be an amendment offered by a
senator who served as President Reagan's secretary of the Navy, a Democrat from
Virginia, James Webb. Mr. Webb proposes to lengthen the leave time of active
and reserve duty soldiers, making reinforcement of the current surge next to
impossible.
Also offering amendments are Senator Feingold of Wisconsin and Senator Levin
of Michigan. Mr. Levin, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, would
mandate troop withdrawals within four months of the law's passage unless the
Iraqi government meets political and security benchmarks. The bill allows Mr.
Bush waiver authority. Mr. Feingold's amendment requires the president to
withdraw nearly all of the troops in Iraq by the middle of the presidential
election season, April 2008.
"We are burning out our ground forces," Mr. Webb said at a press
conference alongside Democratic governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, this
week. "If we're honest about wanting to support our troops, there's no
better place to start than to correct our troop-rotation policy."
Although Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
stated earlier this year that, for most active-duty troops, the "rotation
has often gone to one year overseas, one year home," many troops end up
serving for up to 15 months at a time in Iraq, with only 12 months out of the
country after that. The Pentagon extended active duty tours for the Army in
April.
Mr. Webb's amendment comes in the wake of proposals, put forth earlier this
year by Secretary of Defense Gates, that went even further. The plan, unveiled
in January 2007, required the leave-deployment ratio for active-duty members to
be two years to one, whereas for National Guard members and Reservists, the
ratio would be 5:1.
Pentagon officials say, however, that it is difficult to comply with these
types of standards. As an alternative, the Pentagon is examining proposals that
would offer compensation and incentives for soldiers serving longer tours.
In order to successfully overturn a likely presidential veto of any effort
that would withhold funding or mandate a retreat from Iraq, Senate Democrats
will have to convince a third of the Republican caucus to vote with them.
This will require Democrats "continuing to punch, day in and day out,"
said Senator Biden of Delaware.
In a teleconference last week, President and CEO of the Center for American
Progress, John Podesta, discussed efforts to sway Congressional Republicans on
the war for Iraq.
"You just listen to the voice on the Republican side," Mr. Podesta
said. "They are nervous and looking for alternatives."
The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, a critic of the
administration's strategy in Iraq, John Warner, echoed this sentiment.
Mr. Warner said that when the Senate reconvenes July 9, "You'll be
hearing a number of statements from other colleagues."
Webb’s deployment amendment will open debate
on defense bill
July 03, 2007
As the Pentagon continues to work on a new rotation strategy
that Defense Secretary Robert Gates proposed earlier this year, the Senate will
begin debate on the 2008 defense authorization bill with a vote on Sen. Jim
Webb’s (D-Va.) amendment that would give troops more time at home between
deployments.
Webb’s amendment, the first provision to be debated next week as the Senate
takes up the authorization bill, will likely face opposition by the
administration. The White House several months ago vetoed the 2007 war
emergency bill partly on grounds that Congress should not etch into law
deployment and dwell times, which the administration says would curtail
commanders’ flexibility on the battlefield.
The amendment could be the first in a long list of
provisions likely to attract a presidential veto of the 2008 defense authorization
bill. Following Webb’s amendment, the Senate is expected to take up new Iraq
troop withdrawal provisions; changes to last year’s Military Commissions Act;
and a provision to close the military prison at Guantánamo Bay.
Webb’s staff is using the recess week to get bipartisan support for the
provision, according to a Webb spokeswoman. The amendment was finalized on
Friday after Webb’s staff conferred with professional staff on both sides of
the aisle so that the language can “pass muster,” according to the spokeswoman.
Among the 9 cosponsors are Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.),
Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and
Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.). Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid (D-Nev.) also expressed support for the amendment.
Signaling concern with the continuing erratic deployment schedules, the
amendment requires the Pentagon to give active-duty troops at least as much
time at home as they spent on deployments, and mandates that National Guard and
Reserve members get to stay home for three years following their one-year
deployments.
Active-duty Army soldiers currently serve up to 15 months in Iraq or
Afghanistan, with a 12-month home stay. National Guard and Reserve units can
serve longer terms, which have placed significant strain on their supplies and
readiness at home. In addition, the White House surge strategy in Iraq has
increased demand for military personnel.
“We’re seeing, in many cases, our ground troops burned out,” Webb said at a
press conference last week.
“The current strategy of this administration has not justified the deployment
of troops in this way,” added Webb, who served as secretary of the Navy and
assistant secretary of defense for Reserve Affairs during the Reagan administration.
Gates earlier this year proposed an initiative to change the deployment of
Reserve as well as active-duty troops. Under Gates’s directive, members of the
Reserve components would have an involuntary deployment of one year, followed
by five years on their home bases. Some Reserve forces could be mobilized
sooner, but only on a temporary basis. Meanwhile, active-duty forces would be
deployed for one year at a time, followed by two years at their home bases.
The chief of the National Guard Bureau, Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, has also been
pushing for the five-year dwell time at home to keep his force and equipment
ready and prepared for domestic as well as overseas missions.
Pentagon officials have acknowledged, however, that it may be difficult to
adhere strictly to the new rotation plans, and are looking to establish a
compensation and incentive program for those whose deployments are extended.
But progress on Gates’s plan was temporarily stalled amid discussions over the
incentive plans for soldiers serving longer than required. Pentagon officials
have offered a benefit of a few additional weeks of paid leave — a move
that the Guard Bureau shut down, according to a congressional source familiar
with the negotiations. The Pentagon has also been rethinking the benefits it
can offer to Guard members who are deployed longer or more often than every six
years, the source said.
If Webb’s amendment becomes law, it could hamstring the
active-duty and Reserve troops by effectively giving them less time at home
than what they could get under the plan by Blum and Gates, added the source.
But Webb’s spokeswoman said that the amendment sets only the bare minimum. The
goal would be to have one-year deployments and two years at home for
active-duty troops and one-year deployments and five years at home for Reserve
components. The spokeswoman added that so far the National Guard does not even
get the 1-to-3 ratio.
The amendment also stipulates that the president may waive the limitations on
deployments if he can certify that the deployment of a unit or a member is
necessary to “meet an operational emergency posing a threat to vital national
security interests of the United States.” The services’ chiefs of staff may
also waive the limitation if a member of the military voluntarily requests
deployment.
On Deployment Cycles
The Army is considering whether it will have to extend the combat tours of
troops in Iraq if President Bush opts to maintain the recent buildup of forces
through spring 2008.
Acting Army Secretary Pete Geren testified Tuesday that the service is
reviewing other options, including relying more heavily on Army reservists or
Navy and Air Force personnel, so as not to put more pressure on a stretched
active-duty force.
Most soldiers spend 15 months in combat with a guaranteed 12 months home, a
rotation plan that has infuriated Democrats because it exceeds the service's
goal of giving troops equal time home as in combat. In coming weeks, the Senate
will vote on a proposal by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., that would restrict
deployments.
"It's too early to look into the next year, but for the Army we have to
begin to plan," Geren told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "We
have to look into our options."
Army spokesman Paul Boyce said, "If the future were to require such an
option, it would be the last option on the list."
Gen. David Petraeus, Iraq war commander, suggested Sunday that conditions on
the ground might not be stable enough by September to justify a drop in force
levels, and he predicted stabilizing Iraq could take a decade. Earlier this
year, Bush ordered the deployment of some 30,000 additional troops as part of a
massive U.S.-led security push around Baghdad and the western Anbar province.
There are about 156,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
When asked by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich.,
whether maintaining the force buildup would affect soldiers' 15-month combat
schedules, Geren said he was unsure and cited "numerous options"
available, including a "different utilization of the Guard and
Reserve" and relying on the other services for help.
"We're committed to filling the requirements that the combatant
commander asks," Geren said. "We have been able to do so up until
now, and we will continue to do so."
The Army assessment comes as Democrats say they are already dissatisfied
with the existing policy.
"Who was talking for the well being and the health of the soldiers when
this requirement was put down?" asked Webb, referring to the 15-month
combat tours. After four years of combat, the strategy in Iraq cannot
"justify doing this to the soldiers in the Army and the families back
here," he said.
Geren also said it "would certainly be valuable" if other
departments helped more in rebuilding Iraq.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman said he was surprised during a recent trip to Iraq to
see how many soldiers were tasked with "nation-building."
"I wish every American could see what the U.S. Army and others are
doing to rebuild the government, the health care system, the education system,
to secure the neighborhoods," said Lieberman, I-Conn. "But some of
that, in the best of all worlds, should frankly be done by people from other
departments of our government."
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday that Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice had accepted a request by Ryan Crocker, the U.S.
ambassador in Baghdad, to "beef up the economic and political
sections" of the embassy with more Arabic-language speakers and mid- to
senior-level foreign service officers to supplement the existing work force.
"He says he needs these things, we're going to get them for him,"
McCormack told reporters. "We're going to get him what he needs."
There are currently only 10 U.S. diplomats in Baghdad, including Crocker,
who are fluent in both written and spoken Arabic, the State Department says.
Geren said the decision made earlier this year to extend tours from 12 to 15
months was intended to ensure soldiers were guaranteed one year at home.
Previously, soldiers deployed for 12-month cycles but were unsure when they
would be sent back.
"I felt it was the best of the two tough choices to make. ... That
decision I believe was the right one," Geren said.
The Senate panel is expected to approve Bush's nomination of Geren as Army
secretary, replacing Francis Harvey who was pushed out amid a scandal on
deplorable conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Lawmakers said they also were concerned about the Army's ability to care for
soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and brain injuries.
Geren said the Army is beginning an effort to educate senior military
officers on how to identify symptoms. And last week, the Army contracted to
hire 200 more mental health professionals, increasing such staff by more than
20 percent.
Despite the hiring push, Geren said it will still be tough to find people
who specialize in treatment of the disorder, particularly in rural areas where
many military bases are located.
"We have stressed a work force of the medical professionals in the
mental health area that was already short and we've stressed it more with
deployments," Geren said.
Guard, Families Say Their Goodbyes
Some Md. Soldiers Headed to Iraq For Second Tour
By Steve Vogel, Washington
Post
May 26, 2007
Amid sobs and waving American flags, hundreds of Maryland Army National
Guard soldiers bid goodbye to family and friends yesterday and prepared to
deploy to Iraq, part of the Guard's largest deployment from the state since
World War II.
At the White Oak Armory in Montgomery County, more than 100 soldiers from
Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment boarded buses that
would take them to Fort Dix, N.J., for training before heading overseas in
about two months.
Many of them had returned from a year's deployment in Iraq as recently as
May 2006.
"There's a lot of stress," said Janet Connolly, whose husband, 1st
Sgt. Don Connolly, was among the soldiers leaving. "They just got back a
little over a year ago, and we were expecting to have them home longer than
this."
The scene of soldiers leaving for war on the eve of the Memorial Day weekend
was replayed at armories in Frederick, Dundalk, Towson and Elkton as 640
soldiers from the battalion departed -- about half of the 1,300 Maryland troops
the Guard called up for this deployment.
"It's a large mobilization -- the largest we've had in Maryland since
World War II," Brig. Gen. Grant Hayden, deputy commander of the Guard's
29th Infantry Division, told the soldiers and family members at White Oak.
The deployment comes as Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has criticized the heavy
reliance on Guard troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 5,900 members of
the Maryland Army and Air National Guard have been called into federal service
since the Sept. 11 attacks, about 1,400 of them to Iraq. In Virginia, about
7,900 guardsmen have been called up, with about 2,900 going to Iraq. About 160
Guard and reserve troops from the District are mobilized around the world.
Eighty soldiers from the Maryland National Guard's 126th Aviation Regiment
will hold a mobilization ceremony Tuesday at Aberdeen Proving Ground in
preparation for deployment to Afghanistan.
As part of the 29th Infantry Division, the deploying Maryland soldiers are
members of a famed unit that landed in the first wave at Normandy in 1944. Don
McKee, who was there with the 175th Infantry at Omaha Beach and was later
wounded, addressed the soldiers of Bravo Company yesterday.
"You're citizen-soldiers just like we were," McKee told the
troops. "All residents of Virginia and Maryland should rightly be proud of
you."
McKee said the soldiers deserve stronger backing from politicians: "The
political support you are receiving here does not meet the support you need, in
my opinion."
In 11 months during World War II, the 29th Infantry suffered more than
20,000 casualties, including 3,700 soldiers killed in action. Five Maryland
guardsmen have been killed in Iraq -- two in combat and three in a convoy
accident, said Quentin Banks, spokesman for the Maryland Military Department. A
sixth died while training in the United States.
But in some ways, the situation faced today by the guardsmen in Iraq is more
difficult, McKee said. "Very few of us had family," he recalled.
"Your personal cases are harder than ours were."
That was evident in the faces of many of the family members and troops
gathered at White Oak. Some soldiers carried babies in their arms while children
scurried at their feet.
"It's going to be pretty hard this time," said Spec. Henry
Liriano, 23, of Silver Spring, standing with his wife, Helen, 19, who is
expecting their first child in November.
Janice Chiddo of Greenbelt wore a shirt with a photograph of her deploying
son, Spec. Michael Chiddo, 23. "MY HEART, MY HERO MY SOLDIER," the
shirt read.
"It's very hard the second time," she said. "The first time,
I had a lot of hope and optimism about this conflict. I still have some, but
not as much."
Most of the soldiers learned about four months ago that they would be
returning to Iraq, said Capt. Mathew DiNenna, the company commander. "At
first, there was a little bit of shock. Then it became: What do I need to do to
prepare?"
After two months of training, the soldiers from the 175th are expected to
spend about 10 months in Iraq. Their duties will probably include the dangerous
job of providing security for convoys, although the assignment might change
with time, Hayden said.
The families have become veterans of these deployments, soldiers said.
"I don't know if it's easier, but they have a better understanding of what
to expect," said DiNenna, the father of three young children.
Addressing the soldiers and families, DiNenna promised: "We will
accomplish our mission. We will return safely."
Stretched
Army Sends Troops Back to Iraq
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, The
Associated Press
April 3, 2007
WASHINGTON -- For just the second time since the
war began, the Army is sending large units back to Iraq without giving them at
least a year at home, defense officials said Monday. The move signaled how
stretched the U.S. fighting force has become.
A combat brigade from New York and a Texas
headquarters unit will return to Iraq this summer in order to maintain through
August the military buildup President Bush announced earlier this year.
Overall, the Pentagon announced, 7,000 troops will be going to Iraq in the
coming months as part of the effort to keep 20 brigades in the country to help
bolster the Baghdad security plan. A brigade is roughly 3,000 soldiers.
The Army will try not to shorten the troops' U.S.
time, "but in this case we had to," said a senior Army official, who
requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. "Obviously
right now the Army is stretched," the official said.
The 4th Infantry Division headquarters unit from
Fort Hood, Texas, will return to Iraq after a little more than seven months at
home _ the largest departure to date from the Army's goal of giving units at
least a year's rest after every year deployed. The 1st Brigade of the 10th
Mountain Division, based at Ft. Drum, N.Y., will go back to Iraq after just 10
1/2 months at home.
The only other major unit to spend less than one
year at home was the Georgia-based 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division,
which returned to Iraq 48 days short of a year and is there now, according to
the Army.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman acknowledged that
the Texas unit's 81 day shortfall in rest time, "is not
insignificant."
"There's only so many division
headquarters," he said. "It reflects that this is a military that is
in conflict. We're obviously using a significant portion of the combat units of
the force. And it's a reflection of the realities that exist right now."
Whitman said the latest deployment orders released
Monday would also require the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division Headquarters
unit to stay in Iraq for about 46 days longer than its planned year.
Defense officials and military leaders disagreed
last week over how long it will take to determine if the latest buildup _ which
added five brigades to what had been a fairly consistent level of 15 brigades
in Iraq _ is working.
Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, the military's
chief spokesman in Iraq, said commanders won't know until at least autumn when
they can begin to bring troop levels back down. A day later Defense Secretary
Robert Gates told a congressional committee that he was disturbed to hear that
comment, and he said commanders should be able to make the evaluation by
summer.
So far two of the five Army brigades planned for
the buildup are in Baghdad, and a third is moving in now. All five will be
there in June.
The Army's stated goal is to give active-duty
soldiers two years at home between overseas combat tours. But that has been
largely impossible because the Army does not have enough brigades to meet the
demands of simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The latest buildup
increased the demands, but until recently the Army had been able to give units
at least a year break.
Military leaders say the 12 months are needed so
the units can rest and then become adequately trained and equipped to go back.
Throughout the war, some smaller, more specialized
units have had to deploy without 12 months rest. The Pentagon is currently
developing a policy that would provide additional pay to units that don't get
the year break.
Other deployments announced Monday include:
_ The 18th Airborne Corps Headquarters unit, based
at Fort Bragg, N.C., will go to Iraq in November
_ The 1st Armored Division Headquarters, based in
Wiesbaden, Germany, will go in August
In addition to the 7,000 newly announced
deployments, Whitman said about 2,000 military police have gotten their orders
to go to Iraq. Gates announced last month that commanders requested about 2,200
military police. About 200 were already there and had their tours extended to
meet the request, according to the Army.
Also, the 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division from
Fort Bragg, which is currently in Iraq, will serve a full year there and return
home in January 2008 rather than in September as originally planned.