The report that the Army is prepared to keep the same troop levels in Iraq for the next four years if necessary doesn’t make life easier for people like Jose Torrez.
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job just got more difficult, he said, after Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army’s chief of staff, said in an interview with The Associated Press that the Army is planning for the possibility that it may have to keep its current troop strength until 2009. That means soldiers could experience the same rigorous deployment schedules for years to come.
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“If I hit three back-to-back-to-back deployments, hell no I’m not going ,” said Spc. Jacob Scott, a reservist from Mississippi training in Grafenwöhr, Germany, this week. “As far as the soldiers, they’ve got the heart to go, but it’s the families you leave behind.”
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Dutra was one of six soldiers in a group of about 40 people to raise his hand when Torrez asked Monday who planned to re-enlist.
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“The hard part isn’t being deployed. It’s being away from your family,” Tatum said. “I’ve got a wife and two kids. The first time was hard.”
He was awed to learn the Army is planning for the possibility of four more years in Iraq at current troops levels.
“That’s a lot of stop loss that’ll be going on then,” Tatum said.
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