Volunteer army is "closer to being broken today than ever before in its 30-year history."
By Tom Regan
csmonitor.com
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Pentagon experts worry that some of the military's most experienced pilots might quit after prolonged deployments to dangerous hot spots like Afghanistan and Iraq. At least 14 US helicopters have crashed in Iraq since President Bush declared major combat over last May, claiming some 58 lives and underscoring the vulnerability of an essential cog in US military operations there. Retention of pilots is a major concern because of the time, and the cost, of training them. Analysts say the situation with pilots is just one more example that the US military is stretched too thin.
"There is no question that the force is stretched too thin," said David Segal, director of the Center for Research on Military Organization at the University of Maryland. "We have stopped treating the reserves as a force in reserve. Our volunteer army is closer to being broken today than ever before in its 30-year history."
The Denver Post notes that while sign-up and retention rates for active-duty branches remain strong, the recruiting of reservists has fallen off. Last year the Army fell 7 percent below its recruitment goal. And in some states, the retention rate has fallen far below the desired 85 percent - In Colorado it has fallen to 71 percent.
"This year we have lost 49 soldiers, and that is bad news," said Master Sgt. Pat Valdez, a spokesman for the 2nd Brigade of the 91st Division of the Army Reserve, which comprises some 800 soldiers from Western Plains states. "They are getting out because of personal reasons, promotions at work ... and stress on family."
One result of this situation, The Washington Post reported earlier this week, is that the Army alone has blocked the departure of more than 40,000 soldiers, about 16,000 of them National Guard and Reserve members who were eligible to leave the service this year. Reuters quotes the Pentagon as saying that 187,746 National Guard and Reserve troops were mobilized as of Dec. 31, 2003. About 20 percent of the troops in Iraq are Reservists or Guard members but this proportion is expected to double next year. The Associated Press notes the number of military reservists called to active duty jumped by more than 10,000 in the past week, reflecting their new role in Iraq.
In order to accomodate the massive changeover between departing and arriving troops the next two months in Iraq, the Army this week issued a "stop loss" order to keep 7,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq from leaving the service at the end of their regular enlistments. But some defense analysts say stop-loss orders will discourage new recruits, bound to see many in uniform as no longer volunteers. "The reality is the stop-loss orders that are now in effect amount to a de facto draft," Charles Pena, defense analyst with the Cato Institute, said.
The Albany Times Union reports that the military may soon start calling up retired reservists. There are 800,000 Reserve retirees. The Pentagon is asking them to provide updated address and contact information.
But repeated deployments can keep reservists away from home for years. And this has raised concerns in the Pentagon that they will leave the military as soon as possible.
"A lot of them are telling me 'When I get back, I'm not staying in. I'm getting completely out,' " said Sgt. Phillip Thomas, who oversees about 300 reservists as recruitment and retention officer at Bradt US Army Reserve Center in Niskayuna. He said they don't mind active duty for six months, but any longer becomes a burden for those who have families and careers back home. Some worry their marriages won't survive repeated deployments, he said.
Erich Marquardt, writing in the Asia Times, notes that the Bush administration had advanced warning that this problem might occur. A report released by the Congressional Budget Office in November of 2003 on the ability to sustain troops in Iraq recognized this dilemma. The CBO concluded that the active army would be unable to maintain current troop levels "beyond about March 2004 if it chose not to keep individual units deployed to Iraq for longer than one year without relief. Marquandt says that one reason that retention rates are such a concern is that this is the first period of major combat where Reserve troops are being deployed to the front line in such large numbers.
Even though National Guard and Reserve troops were sent to the 1991 war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan, they rarely were deployed on the front lines, and were instead relegated to combat support roles. With the new troop deployment rotation planned by the Pentagon, these troops will serve on the front lines and will certainly see casualties among their ranks.
The military is also trying a financial incentive to retain full-time troops. The Army recently announced reenlistment bonuses of up to $10,000. Under the program, soldiers serving in Iraq, Afghanistan or Kuwait who re-enlist for three years or more will be paid bonuses of up to $10,000, regardless of their military specialty. The new bonus applies only to active duty solders in the Army, and not to other military branches; nor does it apply to the National Guard or reservists.
The Associated Press reports that soldiers in Iraq had mixed responses to the bonus idea. Some told AP reporters that "no amount of money" would keep them in the military, while others said that the bonus is a "a good chunk of money," particularly for those who were planning on signing up again anyway. But the decision may be hardest on those with a family.
"Maybe if I were single I'd think about it," said Sgt. Dante Legare, 32, of the 4th Infantry Division. "That's pretty good money ... enough to maybe put a down payment on a house," said Legare, a New York City native. "But is it worth it? I've already been away something like nine months. I want to see my wife."
But Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says he has seen no evidence so far in a major ongoing Pentagon study to support calls from analysts and some Army officials to boost the service's strength by perhaps 20,000 troops to 500,000. Analysts believe some strains are inevitable as the force is remodeled to make it more flexible and based more on high tech weapons than boots on the ground. General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, added: "We're asking extraordinary things from the force and their families. I think most individuals understand and their families understand what we're asking them to do. We're asking them a lot. They're responding magnificently."
The real test, according to the Meridan (Connecticut) Record-Journal will come when troops from Afghanistan and Iraq arrive back in the US in February and March. "It will be a ballot or a vote with their feet," Connecticut National Guard Adjutant Gen. Walter A. Cugno said. "Those that stay vote for you. Those that choose to leave say, ‘Thank-you. I've served honorably. My family said I had enough.'"
And while many reservists are about to see their first action, The San Francisco Chronicle reports on the issues facing those who have just returned from active duty. Often they feel pressure to make up for the financial loses they, or their business, have suffered while they were gone. Sometimes they are not always welcomed back with open arms when they return to work. And unlike regular troops, they often lack a support system to help them deal with the transition. That's why the military often advises reservists to attend monthly drills the first three months they are home, even though they are not required to go. It also encourages employers to talk with co-workers before a reservist returns from active duty.
