Request for Question Clarification by
bobbie7-ga
on
29 Nov 2006 14:57 PST
Hello Sayanythingblog,
Let me know if the information below answers your question.
?Approximately 400,000 troops out of an active-duty force of 504,000
have already served one tour of duty in Iraq, according to Peter
Spiegel of the Los Angeles Times. More than one-third of them have
already been deployed twice?
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=125142
How many U.S. troops are in Iraq today?
?Approximately 147,000, according to General John Abizaid, head of
U.S. Central Command, significantly more than were in-country just
after Baghdad was taken in April 2003 when the occupation began.
Abizaid does not expect these figures to fall before "next spring"
?Army policy has been to give soldiers two years at home between
combat tours. This year alone, the time between tours has shrunk from
18 to 14 months. "In the case of the 3rd Infantry," writes Burns, "it
appears at least one brigade will get only about 12 months because it
is heading for Iraq to replace the extended brigade of the 1st
Armored." And this may increasingly prove the norm.?
?According to Senior Rand Corporation analyst Lynn Davis, main author
of "Stretched Thin," a report on Army deployments, "soldiers in
today's armored, mechanized and Stryker brigades, which are most in
demand, can expect to be away from home for ?a little over 45 percent
of their career.'"
(..)
?As of now, write Shanker and Gordon, "so many [U.S. troops] are
deployed or only recently returned from combat duty that only two or
three combat brigades -- perhaps 7,000 to 10,000 troops -- are fully
ready to respond in case of unexpected crises, according to a senior
Army general."
September 28, 2006
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=125142
Download the report titled ?Stretched Thin: Army Forces for Sustained
Operations? here:
http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA439089
