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Army chief says troops strained, calls pace 'unsustainable'
Gov Exec.com ^ | Dec 5, 2007 | National Journal's CongressDailyAM

Posted on 12/05/2007 6:49:41 AM PST by RDTF

The Army's top general Tuesday acknowledged that his soldiers and their families are "stretched" and "stressed" by six years of war and will need a steady commitment of increased funding to keep the Army from sliding into the "hollow" force of the 1970s.

Gen. George Casey said the fight between Congress and the White House over the supplemental funding for Iraq and Afghanistan makes his job more difficult and sends "a terrible signal" to the troops fighting the war.

In a presentation to the Brookings Institution, the Army chief of staff appeared to try to strike a balance by giving a candid description of the problems facing his service and what it needs to recover while denying the more dire warnings from some analysts and critics. But Casey emphasized that the strain on his troops and the wear and destruction of equipment from the current pace of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan are "unsustainable."

Casey predicted a decision in three or four months on whether the Army troop level in Iraq could be reduced below the current 15 combat brigades.

Even if the commitment to Iraq is reduced and the Army can meet its goal of adding 74,000 soldiers, he said it would take three or four years of effort and increased funding to restore a force that is capable of meeting the full range of military challenges.

Noting the additional $17 billion in Army funding that Congress provided last year to improve readiness, Casey said: "Getting the resources to reset the force is the difference between a hollow force and a force that's ready to do the next thing."

Asked about the ongoing dispute between President Bush and the Democratic leaders in Congress over providing $196.4 billion in additional supplemental war funding, Casey stated the obvious that "not having predictable, timely funding makes it harder for me to do my job." And, he added, "What's going on now sends a terrible signal to my soldiers and their families."

Casey noted that thousands of soldiers are returning from 15-month combat tours while Pentagon officials are warning about ending services at their home bases to divert money from the normal budget to the war.

Bush issued another demand Tuesday that Congress approve the additional war supplemental without the timeline for removing U.S. combat forces from Iraq that Democratic leaders are demanding.

The general, responding to a question, acknowledged that the Army is granting nearly twice as many "moral" waivers for recruits as it did five years ago, but said 80 percent of those are for misdemeanor offenses. "The notion out there that we're enlisting felons is not true," he said.

Casey stressed the need to reduce the pace of deployments so his troops could remain home more than a year. With such a rapid turnaround between combat tours, the Army is unable to train for anything but the current counter insurgency operations, he said.

It would require at least 18 months between deployments for the Army to train a force able to handle "the full spectrum of combat," which would include a conventional conflict against a major adversary, Casey added.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 110th; afghanistan; casey; defensespending; gengeorgecasey; georgecasey; iraq; pelosi
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To: edcoil

I have NEVER liked casey.

LLS


21 posted on 12/05/2007 7:40:17 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (Support America, Kill terrorists, Destroy dims and vote Fred!)
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To: All; RDTF

.

MEL’s -PASSION- sparked by -WE WERE SOLDIERS-

http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085111/posts

http://www.Freerepublic.com/~aloharonnie/

http://www.Freerepublic.com/~anita1/

.


22 posted on 12/05/2007 7:52:20 AM PST by ALOHA RONNIE ("ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer/Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965 http://www.lzxray.com)
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To: <1/1,000,000th%; joe fonebone
"No one here considers it hollow."

Well, "here" as in Free Republic. I'm sure a lot of folks on "Daily Kos" and "DU" consider it worse than hollow.

But then, they're treasonous scum.

23 posted on 12/05/2007 8:07:49 AM PST by Wonder Warthog (The Hog of Steel-NRA)
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To: edcoil
Memo to Gen. George Casey Stop whining

Your profile says:

"I am a southern California conservative.

Born and raised an Army brat, I did my tour of duty (1975-1980)"

Hmmm - seems to be a measurable difference between a 'southern California conservative" and northern Maine conservative...

Thank you for your service, but you seem to still be a 'brat' ;o)

24 posted on 12/05/2007 8:22:44 AM PST by maine-iac7 (",,,but you can't fool all of the people all the time" LINCOLN)
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To: trooprally
Our son, USMC, is currently in Ramadi. He says the Marines there want to get into Afghanistan because things are slow in Iraq.

Bless your son and the head of the Marines who want to redeploy some Marines to Afghanistan.

My grandson, 173rd Paratrooper, (son of a former Marine,) is in the deadliest area of Afghanistan, "Taliban Central" in the Korengal = over 500 firefights first 6 months, KIA/wounded rate 1 in 4! - they are in NEED of more boots on the ground...

It seems to be Casey who's balking on it - Territorial imperatives?

Time - PAST time = for the traitors in DC to fund our troops and time for Casey to put his ego in his back pocket.

Go Marines...

25 posted on 12/05/2007 8:31:30 AM PST by maine-iac7 (",,,but you can't fool all of the people all the time" LINCOLN)
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To: maine-iac7

Thank You and GO PARATROOPERS!!!

I hope your grandson knows and sees that he has supporters back home.

[Mr] T


26 posted on 12/05/2007 8:39:34 AM PST by trooprally (Never Give Up - Never Give In - Remember Our Troops)
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To: RDTF
The military needs (a) more funding, and (b) to better spend what it gets. Warfighting is expensive, especially the way we do it. For the level of performance we demand out of the military, we need to get realistic about what kind of price tag that carries per soldier and per theater, in terms of it being 2007, not 1967 or 1947. We've been kidding ourselves ever since 09/12/2001 about what this war on "terror" is really going to cost us.

Taking an axe to wasteful military spending would be great, but there's a huge amount of bureaucratic entrenchment that will fight to the absolute bitter end than let itself be reformed. There's a lot the system could do on the inside to rehabilitate itself, but pork, inertia, and territorialism are very hard to overcome.

Either way, it's the guy on the combat patrol who suffers if he can't get spare parts or adequate training. That should be our concern.

27 posted on 12/05/2007 8:45:07 AM PST by Steel Wolf ("There are moderate Muslims, but Islam itself is not moderate" Ibn Warraq)
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To: maine-iac7

During my tour in the 70’s I never recall any of my superior officers complaining and we, were treated like crap in the late 70’s for even being in the military.


28 posted on 12/05/2007 9:00:02 AM PST by edcoil (Reality doesn't say much - doesn't need too)
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To: joe fonebone

Don’t know what branch you were in Joe, but the army was messed up in the early to mid 70s. In Korea we had race riots, black NCOs assaulting white officers, etc. It was ridiculous.


29 posted on 12/05/2007 9:04:56 AM PST by Scotsman will be Free (11C - Indirect fire, infantry - High angle hell - We will bring you, FIRE)
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To: RDTF

Asked about the ongoing dispute between President Bush and the Democratic leaders in Congress over providing $196.4 billion in additional supplemental war funding, Casey stated the obvious that “not having predictable, timely funding makes it harder for me to do my job.” And, he added, “What’s going on now sends a terrible signal to my soldiers and their families.”

_______

Why isn’t this the topic of all the articles about this briefing? Hmmmm.....


30 posted on 12/05/2007 9:08:44 AM PST by rightinthemiddle (Without the Media, the Left and Islamofacists are Nothing.)
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To: RDTF

“...will need a steady commitment of increased funding...”

IMHO, Sorry to say that this sounds more like the Democrats (especially when talking about education) than it does about fixing the issues.


31 posted on 12/05/2007 9:09:22 AM PST by PurpleMan
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To: RDTF

fight between Congress and the White House over the supplemental funding for Iraq and Afghanistan makes his job more difficult and sends “a terrible signal” to the troops fighting the war.

Democrats are not loyal to the Troops fighting the war.
Democrats are not loyal to the Troops fighting the war.
Democrats are not loyal to the Troops fighting the war.
Democrats are not loyal to the Troops fighting the war.
Democrats are not loyal to the Troops fighting the war.
Democrats are not loyal to the Troops fighting the war.
Democrats are not loyal to the Troops fighting the war.
Democrats are not loyal to the Troops fighting the war.
Democrats are not loyal to the Troops fighting the war.
Democrats are not loyal to the Troops fighting the war.


32 posted on 12/05/2007 9:17:55 AM PST by Son House ($$Proud Member of Vast Right Wing, Out To Lower Your Tax Rates For More Opportunities.$$)
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To: StarCMC

See, THAT’s a speech I can agree with. The article twisted it.

I agree with the poster who said to beware ANY article that employs a series of one-word quotes.

It means that the person speaking took great pains NOT to put the word being quoted anywhere near WORDS that would express what the article is saying.

Also beware of any article that uses multiple “...” marks, especially within a single quote. Generally people have a reason for using all of their words, and removing them changes the meaning.


33 posted on 12/05/2007 9:21:39 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT (The Swiss Ninja.)
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To: CharlesWayneCT; StarCMC

here is the actual author of the article:

Otto Kreisher


34 posted on 12/05/2007 9:26:52 AM PST by RDTF ("Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear". Mark Twain)
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To: trooprally

I can’t help but wonder about how they would view the stresses on the families during WWII? Some of those wives at home got a piece of mail once a month. We’re so spoiled.

Not only that, but I’d wager that the stress is compounded exponentially by the baloney that gets played out in the enemedia and by the Congress every day. Ugh!


35 posted on 12/05/2007 9:43:08 AM PST by StarCMC (http://cannoneerno4.wordpress.com; http://starcmc.wordpress.com/ - The Enemedia is inside the gates.)
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To: rightinthemiddle

EXACTLY! Media bias is ugly, isn’t it?


36 posted on 12/05/2007 9:45:38 AM PST by StarCMC (http://cannoneerno4.wordpress.com; http://starcmc.wordpress.com/ - The Enemedia is inside the gates.)
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To: RDTF
He's certainly been reporting in the defense arena for a long time.
37 posted on 12/05/2007 9:50:53 AM PST by StarCMC (http://cannoneerno4.wordpress.com; http://starcmc.wordpress.com/ - The Enemedia is inside the gates.)
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To: joe fonebone
nice to know that my service to this country in the ‘70’s is considered hollow.....

If you served in the '70s as I did, you'd know exactly what the General was talking about. Reagan was a breathe of fresh air when he came in and we started ramping up again. It was a damn good thing the Soviets never tried anything while Carter was in office.
38 posted on 12/05/2007 9:51:08 AM PST by af_vet_rr
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To: StarCMC
I can’t help but wonder about how they would view the stresses on the families during WWII? Some of those wives at home got a piece of mail once a month. We’re so spoiled.

Right after my daughter started flying into and out of Iraq (and Afghanistan as well), she sent me an email with a picture of part of her aircraft and said "See the bullet holes? Somebody took some potshots at us this morning. Don't tell mom."

I have friends who have children serving over there, and they'll be chatting with them (including video chatting) and they'll hear something and their kid will say "something happened, I've gotta run, see ya" as they are picking up a rifle.

The whole thing is very surreal at times (we should have had a clue when the White House allowed reporters to be "embedded" on a large scale during the invasion in 2003).
39 posted on 12/05/2007 9:57:28 AM PST by af_vet_rr
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To: af_vet_rr

like i said in another post, carter gutted the military...having to strip aircraft for spare parts was totally asinine...and no fuel to fly ‘em with.....or tools to fix ‘em with....yeah, i remember those days...


40 posted on 12/05/2007 9:57:59 AM PST by joe fonebone (When in danger, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout)
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