[CrawDaddyCA]

<>...that commanders have told him the 144,000 troops already deployed are "what they can live with."

Oh, yeah? Then can one of those 'commanders' explain why my oldest son has already served 3 tours in Iraq, and possibly looking at a 4th come summer time?

[excludethis]

Why do you assert that a soldier gets to decide when, where and how long he serves in a particular theater? I thought this was the military, not a cafeteria plan of benefits to choose from.