Guest guest Posted September 9, 2003 Report Share Posted September 9, 2003 washingtonpost.com > > Reserve Tours Are Extended > Army Orders 1-Year Stay In Iraq, Nearby Nations > > By Vernon Loeb and Steve Vogel > Washington Post Staff Writers > Tuesday, September 9, 2003; Page A01 > > With U.S. forces stretched thin in Iraq and the Bush administration still > searching for additional international peacekeepers, the Army has ordered > thousands of National Guard and Army Reserve forces in Iraq to extend their > tours in the country to a year, months longer than many of the troops had > anticipated, Army officials said yesterday. > > While defense officials have had authority since the Sept. 11, 2001, > terrorist attacks to activate Guard and reserve troops for two years, most > to date have been called up for only a year of total service, which has > included weeks or months for training in the United States before heading > to Iraq as well as debriefings once they returned home. > > The new order, requiring 12-month tours on the ground in Iraq or > surrounding countries, means that many Guard and Army Reserve troops could > have their original year-long mobilizations extended for anywhere from one > to six months, Army officials said. > > The order comes after months of concern inside and outside the Army that an > over-reliance on Guard and Reserve forces by the Bush administration in the > war on terrorism could adversely affect retention and recruiting. Some > officials have expressed concern that this could break the Guard and > Reserve system, which augments the active-duty force with critical > engineering, military police, civil affairs and psychological operations > specialists. > > The new deployment policy, which is still being disseminated to Guard and > Army Reserve units, is already prompting concerns by troops and their > advocates, who said uncertainty about the length of deployments can have a > highly negative impact on morale. The Army issued the new policy late > Friday night, but made no formal announcement of the change. > > There are 122,000 Army personnel in Iraq, including 3,000 National Guard > soldiers and 5,000 reservists, Army officials said. Another 5,000 Guard > soldiers and 7,000 reservists are serving in Kuwait, they said. > > Overall, there are 350,000 troops in the Army National Guard and 205,000 in > the Army Reserve. As of last week, a total of 128,919 Army Guard and > Reserve members were mobilized in support of operations overseas and in the > United States. Although the total is lower than during the peak of the Iraq > war, it is more than 10 times greater than the average annual Guard and > Reserve call-up during the 1990s, which typically was fewer than 10,000 > troops a year. > > Army officials defended the new deployment order, saying the scarcity of > active-duty forces and security concerns in Iraq made it necessary to keep > a large number of Guard and Reserve troops in the country for as long as > possible. Many of the specialties most required in postwar Iraq are almost > entirely provided by Guard and Army Reserve units. > > " Because of the dynamic situation in theater, we had to take a look at our > overseas forces to make sure we were maximizing their deployment > opportunity, " one Army official said, asking that he not be identified by name. > > Steve Stromvall, a spokesman for the Army Reserve at Fort McPherson, Ga., > said many Guard and Reserve forces in Iraq and Kuwait will not be > " pleasantly surprised " by the new policy requiring 12-month tours in the > region. But he said the new policy " is going to help us give some > predictability and therefore some stability to Army Reserve soldiers. " > > The new policy only applies to those now serving in Iraq and will not > affect Guard and Reserve troops deploying in the future, including two > National Guard brigades scheduled to deploy on six-month tours in the > coming months. > > Retired Army Maj. Gen. William L. Nash, now a senior fellow at the Council > on Foreign Relations, called the new policy " a manifestation of the > challenges the Army is facing meeting its troop obligations throughout the > world, and particularly in Iraq. " > > " What it means is that for the troops who are there now, they are going to > have to serve longer than they expected, and be surprised about that, > because of the time necessary to organize and prepare the replacement > cycles that will come following them, " Nash said. Nash said the 12-month > tours will most likely have a negative impact on recruiting and retention > in the National Guard and Reserve, both of which are populated by what are > commonly referred to as " citizen soldiers " -- men and women who have > regular jobs and in peacetime typically contribute weekend service. > > Army officials said they have to date seen no adverse impact on recruiting > and retention in the Guard and Reserve despite the large numbers of troops > deployed overseas. > > But the war in Iraq has placed enormous strains on regular Army forces, > with about half the combat power of the country's largest military service > still deployed in Iraq five months after the fall of Baghdad. By early next > year, eight of the Army's 10 active-duty divisions, in addition to large > numbers of Guard and Reserve troops, will have seen duty in either Iraq or > Afghanistan. > > Soldiers with the D.C. Army National Guard's 547th Transportation Company, > which deployed to Iraq last winter, have been hoping for a return in > November, a spokesman said. " They'll be disappointed if that's not the > case, but they feel they have a job to do, " said Capt. Sheldon Smith. > > A soldier from the unit killed in action last month was buried yesterday at > Arlington National Cemetery. More than 100 soldiers from the unit are still > in Iraq. > > " Those of us with loved ones there want them home same as everyone else, > and we'll continue to hope and pray for their safe return as soon as > possible, " said Smith, who has a brother serving in Iraq with the > California National Guard. > > The Maryland National Guard has more than 300 soldiers serving in Iraq. > Soldiers from the units have orders for a one-year mobilization, with > possibility of extension to two years. The assumption has been that the > one-year mobilization included time in the United States preparing to > deploy, training and later demobilizing, said Maj. Charles Kohler, a > spokesman for the Maryland Guard. > > " It would be the time away from work, " Kohler said. > > The Maryland Guard's 115th Military Police Battalion, based in Salisbury > and Parkville, Md., has been called up three times in the past two years -- > to guard the Pentagon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, to process al > Qaeda and Taliban prisoners at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, > and to Iraq since last spring. > > Soldiers in the unit have been hoping to return to Maryland in late > December, Kohler said. " I'm sure they would be " disappointed by an > extension, he added. > > A rotation plan announced by the Army in July for sustaining more than > 120,000 troops in Iraq through the end of next year relies not only on two > National Guard brigades but also a third division of multinational > peacekeeping forces. They would be in addition to a British-led > multinational division in southern Iraq and a recently deployed Polish-led > division south of Baghdad. > > But troops for a third division of multinational troops have been hard to > assemble, with India, Pakistan and Turkey indicating that they wanted U.N. > authorization for peacekeepers. > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45553-2003Sep8.html > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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