Posted on 01/06/2005 9:30:48 PM PST by Former Military Chick
Army leaders are considering seeking a change in Pentagon policy that would allow for longer and more frequent call-ups of some reservists to meet the demands of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, a senior Army official said yesterday.
Reservists are being used heavily to fill key military support jobs, particularly in specialty areas, but Army authorities are having increasing difficulty limiting the active-duty time of some normally part-time soldiers to a set maximum of two years, the official said. He described the National Guard's 15 main combat units as close to being "tapped out."
To avoid pushing reserve forces to the breaking point, the official also said, a temporary increase of 30,000 troops in active-duty ranks that was authorized last year will probably need to be made permanent, especially if U.S. troop levels in Iraq remain high. He said significant troop levels may be required in Iraq for four or five more years.
The official declined to be named because of the political sensitivity of the troop issue and the lack of decisions. But he said that the Army probably will ask Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in the next several months to change the policy on mobilization of reservists. "It's coming," he told a small group of Pentagon reporters. "I think we're going to have this discussion this spring."
The news comes as the Bush administration confronts rising controversy over the shape and size of the U.S. military, particularly whether the active-duty and reserve forces are robust enough to meet the many demands placed upon them. Soldiers and their families are also expressing frustration at repeat deployments to Iraq and tours of duty that have already been extended.
About 40 percent of the 150,000 troops now in Iraq have come from reserve ranks.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
When one of these dudes speaks on the record, then I'll start considering the validity.
"When one of these dudes speaks on the record, then I'll start considering the validity"
Wake up!!! Everyone else has been extended!! If they don't extend the reservists, I would be very surprised!! The Dems backed George in a corner during the election. Just like the George the first, No new taxes, George the second, No Draft!
I would rather have a draft and get some of our Street Gangs employed. They like to ambush people, nows their chance!
Just what we need. Gangsters with military training.
They should be having this discussion right now. Did the Bush admin ever increase active duty and reserve military quota's from the reduced levels of the clintoon admin??
I suspect one of GW Bush's stupidest moves may turn out to be his proclamation of no military draft while he's president. Does anyone believe the US can actually defeat 1 billion blood-crazed, demonic, psychopathic muslims on the cheap with a repeatedly re-deployed force of 130,000 marine/army troopers? If out of a population of 260M we can muster a volunteer force of only 200,000, we need the military draft.
Yea, but you see, having spent 21 years in the military and having been a Drill Instructor, I can gurantee you that they may go into bootcamp as little Gangsters, but I assure you they come out Americans. Very good Citizens in fact, because they no longer have their heads up their backsides!!
We used a draft for WWII.
I was drafted and served honorably during Vietnam. I worked in military personnel management, and do NOT recall draftees being any more or less difficult, than volunteer enlistees.
It appears the relatively small size of our military is resulting in extensions, for regulars and reserves. This may, in turn, be making service less attractive.
Or maybe we need to pay the military people at a high enough rate, that the supply is high enough to avoid the draft?
Just curious. Does the military have procedures for removing the real antisocial psychopath type?
It's a scary thought that we could train antisocial criminals the arts of efficient killing.
Agree however, I'd add politicians sons. Jeb's son looks pretty healthy don't you think?
Now we get into cost/benefit analysis. At what point does a draft become cheaper? At what point does the military become a gang of mercenaries? At what point do we decide it's cheaper to hire soldiers from India or other impovershed nations?
My father-in-law did in Normandy.
Yes. They are administratively discharged as unfit for military service. Happens all the time.
Reserve recruiters are doomed.
How high would you like to go? Let's take for a moment a 20 year old Army Private, E-3, married, in Iraq with a paratroop unit. His base pay is $1641, his housing allowance is $504, he gets $250 per month separation pay and $150 a month in jump pay. Total is $2545 per month or over $30,000 per year. Not bad for a 20 or 21 year old out of high school.
God knows my point is not to begrudge the troops the pay that they get. They earn every dime and more. But money is not the answer. I would be amazed if you can find more than a handful that enlisted for the money, and most military people I served with would be highly insulted if people thought that they were in it for the bucks. People join for reasons not remotely related to salary, and thinking that if you can only increase the salaries to a certain level and that'll get you all the troops you need will probably do nothing but get you people enlisting for the wrong reasons.
Yes, we the Drill Instructors are trained to be Drill instructors. The pressures of Bootcamp are challenging both physically and mentally. These challenges bring outthe good and the bad, makes a person look at themselves. Evaluate themselves, and how they will handle that presure. Those demands are usually basic int nature but we understand it as HARD LOVE!
It's amazing how after just 9 weeks, the metmophasis is complete or nearly complete. Usually it doesn't take this long. ALlof the failures of the schools come out also. Many can't read, they go thru remedial reading,same with math. Many personalities are weeded out, not just discharged either. Some are, with recommendations for further medical/psyc treatment. They are identified.
Bootcamp is for everyone, Marine Bootcamp is the toughest.If you make it through any of the MIlitary bootcamps, you have gained a tremendous amount in self esteem and character building and Patriotism! This is why I believe the Draft should be brought back. It gives the person a sense of direction and confidence. A 2 year hitch is fine, Long enough to find yourseld and get your feet on the ground and short enough that it doesn't feel like a life time.
I don't think that is too far away either.
LOL, very funny!
Bump, very true, Marine Corp Boot Camp was the best thing that ever happened to me, even thought at the time I thought I had died and gone to hell.
No Exemptions?? Fine with me! There are no exemptions if you join the reserves only for ROTC after they have contracted with the Army. My son is going through this now.
He joined the reserves because he wanted, He wanted to complete Enlisted Boot camp. This is not a requirement for ROTC. He wanted to prove to himself that Enlisted Bootcamp was OK. It was, but he was in excellent physical condition.
He returned from Bootcamp and went on a ROTC unit exercise. During the exercise he broke his arm. Hasn't contracted for ROTC yet, but should in the next few weeks. Arm prevented him from being deployed to Iraq. He was pretty upset about not being able to go.He's back in College now.
bttt
I joined army ROTC in 1988 after my sophmore year so I had to complete the "ROTC Bootcamp" to make up for missing the first two years of campus courses. The ROTC basic training consisted of 6 weeks at Ft. Knox and was a modified form of basic training. We had saturday night and sunday's off, and since most of us weren't under contract we could leave at anytime. However, the field training excercises were pretty tough, we did spend a lot of time in the woods.
Once it was over they tried to get you to sign up. If you did (like me), they sent you to Ft. Bragg the following summer for another 6 week program that essentially was the army's way of paying you back for all that time off at Ft. Knox. We had the morning of July 4th off, that was it (except for a few hours each Sunday morning to attend church). We also spent about 25 of the 42 nights I was there in the field, and Ft. Bragg in June/July isn't exactly a hospitable place to spend your summer.
Good luck to your son, hopefully he gets a good assignment and the broken arm doesn't keep him out long.
Regardless, my answer to you is an unequivocal "yes".
Right, I understand your post. Now you join the ROTC Unit when you start college, in your freshman and sophmore year you attend classes during the school year and go on different exercises during the school year. You do not receive any financial support from the Military for you College Tuition. It is in you Junior year of college that you "CONTRACT" with the Army for your tuition and you receive a monthly stipend. I believe it's the equivelent pay a sargent (E-5) receives, during the last 2 years of college. This coming summer he will attend the courses, Air assault and other at various Military Instalations, Ft. Lewis being one of them. He will also go to the ROTC Bootcamp!
My son joined the Army reserves so that he would be able to go to the Enlisted Bootcamp. He did this because he wanted to!! You have to know my son! He has been running all through middle school and high school. I suggested he use his old book bag to put weights in from his weight bench. So he has been running with an extra 40lbs on his back.
I told him his back pack would be 60-80 lbs so he better get used to it. So he was running 2 miles in @ 12-13 min with the 40 bookbag. He went for his Army physical and ran the 2 miles 11 min and 40 secs. When he went to the Enlisted bootcamp he was in the 11 -12 min range, they caught him limping and found he was running that time with a broken bone in his foot!!
He's sure he can break the ten minute barrier. He also like to rapel down the sides of the barnes around where we live. He went down the Warrior tower face first and walked down the side of the tower!! Like I said you have to know my son. He's been getting ready for bootcamp for about 5 years. He even took his bed out of his room and sleeps on the floor. He did that when he was in high school, he is finishing his sophomore year in college.
Officer: Army May Change Reserves Policy
January 07, 2005 9:11 AM EST
WASHINGTON - Stretched thin by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army is considering a National Guard and Reserve policy shift that could result in part-timers being called to active duty multiple times for up to two years each time, a senior Army official said Thursday.
The official, who discussed the matter with a small group of reporters on condition of anonymity because the matter has not been fully settled inside the Pentagon, said the Army probably will ask Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in the next several months to change the policy. The official also said it appeared likely that the Army will ask Congress to permanently increase the statutory size of the Army by 30,000 soldiers, to 512,000. He said that decision would be made next year.
The Army has the authority to add 30,000 soldiers, but arranged for it to be only a temporary boost because it did not want a long-term commitment to the cost of a larger force. But now it appears that the Army has no choice but to accept a permanent increase, the official said.
The Army estimates that a permanent increase of 30,000 soldiers will cost it about $3 billion a year. The Pentagon is sending retired Army Gen. Gary E. Luck to Iraq next week to conduct an "open-ended review" of the military operations there, including troop levels, The New York Times reported on its Web site Thursday night.
One reason that the National Guard and Reserve have been used so heavily over the past three years is that the active-duty Army is too small to meet the demands of war - particularly in Iraq, where troop levels have far exceeded original predictions - while also maintaining a presence in traditional areas of influence such as Europe and the Korean peninsula.
The Army now has about 660,000 troops on active duty, of which about 160,000 are members of the Guard and Reserve. The Army wants them to be eligible for an unlimited number of call-ups, so long as no single mobilization lasts more than 24 months, the official said.
Under current policy set by Rumsfeld, a Guard or Reserve member is not to serve on active duty for more than 24 total months. Thus, for example, if a Guard or Reserve member was mobilized for six months after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and later for nine months in Afghanistan, then that person is off limits for duty in Iraq because a yearlong tour there would exceed the 24-month limit. A standard tour in Iraq, for both active-duty and reserves, is 12 months.
If the limit were set at 24 consecutive months, with some break between tours, then in theory a Guard or Reserve member could be mobilized for multiple 12- or 24-month tours in Iraq or elsewhere.
That is the kind of flexibility the Army has decided it needs in order to sustain the forces needed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the official said. He stressed that the Army would make only sparing use of the authority to call up soldiers for longer tours because it would not want to alienate soldiers.
The National Guard, with about 350,000 members, and the 200,000-strong Reserve already are seeing signs of a slide in recruiting and retaining soldiers. Some may question whether a policy change that results in longer mobilizations could further erode the Guard and Reserve's ability to attract new soldiers and keep the ones it has. The Guard in particular has been used so much in Iraq and Afghanistan that the Army now has deployed - or put on notice of plans to mobilize in 2005 - all 15 of its main combat brigades.
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