Army calling divisions for return duty in Iraq

[Judi Lynn]

Army calling divisions for return duty in Iraq

By Robert Burns
The Associated Press
Posted March 13 2004

WASHINGTON · The Army is spread so thin around the world that when it needs fresh combat troops for Iraq this fall it will have little choice but to call on the same soldiers who led the charge into Baghdad last spring.

The 3rd Infantry Division already has been given an official "warning order" to prepare to return to Iraq as soon as Thanksgiving. When those soldiers flew home from Iraq last summer to their bases in Georgia, few of them could have known they were, in effect, on a roundtrip ticket.

They are not alone in facing back-to-back deployments to Iraq. Some of the same Marines who teamed up with the 3rd Infantry to topple Baghdad are already assembling again in Kuwait, only a matter of months after returning home, and more Marines will go next year.

Other Army units that recently returned to the United States or are preparing to come home this spring, including the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., and the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, are candidates for a quick turnaround.
(snip/...)

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-atroops13mar13,0,7173663.story?coll=sfla-news-nationworld

[lazarus]

1. Fresh division for the fall?

What happened to pulling out in June?

Oh, yeah, it was the Bush administration saying they were going to pull out in June, so it was a lie. Silly me.

[RobertSeattle]

2. I'm waiting for the poor smuck...

Station a Fort X, gets deployed to Iraq. Returns from Iraq, gets transferred to Fort Y, 2 months later, gets deployed to Iraq. Ouch!

I wonder if the Army has implemented any rules to prevent someone from being "deployment slammed" like this (unless they volunteer).

[truthisfreedom]

3. when was the last time we asked returned-home troups to go back to hell?

how many years ago? WWII?

[saigon68]

4. Don't worry the DRAFT is coming

To a Ghetto or Trailer Park near YOU !!!!!

[rfkrocks]

6. Draft will only come after Bush wins 2004 election

I think thats the plan-that way there will be no political fallout on election-its the same with gutting social security-do it when there are no consequences-I really don't know how much crap the troops can take-they must feel abused by the Chimp-in-Chief

[teryang]

9. Interest rates will go up too! n/t

[rocktivity]

13. The draft's infrastructure is already in place

and can start as soon as March 2005. College and Canada are not options.

http://www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html

:headbang:
rocknation

[Occulus]

18. Resistance?

Sounds like the only option at this point.

I've said it before and I'll say it again- if * is reelected, the proceeding actions on his administration's part will foment a civil war.

[Redleg]

14. In WWII the units didn't rotate home until the war was over.

Other than that, you made a good point. I think this quick rotation stuff is going to really wear on the troops, both active-duty and reserve component.

[TacticalPeek]

5. Yesterday's:

Spread Thin, Army Calling on Same Units

[0007]

7. Two things that are inevitable with this crime cabal

1. The draft

2. The production of bin Laden

[Mari333]

8. MOTHERS DONT LET YOUR BABIES GROW UP TO BE SOLDIERS

my stepson's email today...you dont want to go thru one day like we are going thru worrying about him
-------------------------------------------------------------------

hey

i am fine, just a little tired. we got mortared this morning, but nobody was hurt. i didn't even realize it until the third one exploded, so we went to the prison and sat tight, but three was all they wanted to fire. only one landed in the prison, the others landed near the city outside the gate. they really need to stop doing that. it was no big deal, we all just scratched our heads thinking 'what the hell was that?' then came the realization after i heard fizzing overhead, then figured out that it wasn't some idiot trying to blow something up outside the gate.

honestly, the mortars were the main thing i was concerned about, and after this morning, they don't really bother me. i am never out in the open, so i have nothing to worry about. i wasn't even bothered by them.

anyways, i am fine, still no mail coming in. they say it takes no time at all to get to your side, but forever to get to me. go figure.

i love you
i am wearing my vest right now, so don't worry

love mike

[ConcernedCanuk]

10. Comparing Iraq to WW2 ! - hmmmm

.
.
.

From the Article:

""We've got an Army and we're using it," said retired Gen. Gordon Sullivan, a former Army chief of staff and currently president of the Association of the U.S. Army, a booster group.

Yet Sullivan, who recently visited U.S. troops in Iraq and Kuwait, acknowledged that sending war veterans back for a second tour of duty means the Army is stretched tighter than it has been in decades.

"Loosely, in a historical perspective, it's not dissimilar to what you saw in World War II in Europe," he said in an interview. "We're just going to keep using them."

.............................................................

and "just going to keep using them" -

yah right -

till they drop

although alot of them aren't saying it outloud, I betcha alot of the people in the MisAdministration wish they'd never gotten INTO Iraq -

too late now tho -

another country all messed up at the hands of the USA's foreign policy

(sigh)

[pfitz59]

11. Just in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

You bet they'll be some happy families this year!

[underpants]

12. I sure hope they remember to fill out some absentee ballots

before they leave. Of course the Repubs might challenge them as they did in Florida 4 years ago and get 2/3 of them thrown out (in counties that voted for Gore).

[Big_Mike]

15. Remember the "Peace Dividend?"

In '91 we had 18 divisions.

Now we have 10.

It's no wonder these folks are getting back to back slammed. Our idiots in Congress (BOTH parties, just to be fair) couldn't wait to cut the fat, the muscle, and just for the hell of it, amputate damn near to the level of the belly button. There were many of us saying you are cutting too deep, but no one would listen.

Don't blame the troopies. They don't control this. Evict every one of the bastards still holding chairs in the House and the "Greatest Deliberative Body" that were there way back when.

Let's just ignore the fact that they put over 500,000 out of work. Where was the hue and cry that would have happened if Ford or GM had laid off 33% of their workforce?

Don't come crying now.

[rfkrocks]

16. I do want to blame The GOP Mike

We wouldn't be stressed if we didn't start a frigging war in Iraq for no reason with no international support and then we occupied a country where a sizable number of the people really don't want us there? How is that the dems fault? We are not an empire-we are a republic and republics don't make good empires see EGA Athenian empire-the stress the military is under is because of Iraq-plain and simple-we have a GOP Moron as President who doesn't value the troops lives and this what we get-the Dem's don't bring back bodies and hide the flag covered caskets of troops that is the GOP and BTW I guess the GOP thinks its OK to show the flag draped caskets of firemen in political ads-I am sorry we did have a peace dividend until old AWOL decided to conquer the ME

[Big_Mike]

17. We sowed the wind with unwise, too deep cuts a decade ago.

My basic premise is that we are now reaping the whirlwind of over reaction. Over and over in our history, we have a foe that is overcome, then they destroy the military that had destroyed that foe. We did it at the end of WW I, WW II, and the Cold War. Our politicians decide that they can fund all their pet projects at the expense of the military. The state of the military today is excellent because they didn't stop training this time, but there just aren't enough bodies.

I believe that it doesn't matter what party holds the White House for this problem to rear its head. Something would have happened that would have required a long term committment.

Up until '91, our defense policy was to fight and win two major fronts at once. Then it was to fight and win one, and hold the other, like what happened in the Pacific in WW II. Then it became fight one, and be prepared for a second. This scenario happened with Afganistan and Iraq.

I blame both parties equally, and damn them equally. I am one of those strange ones, who believes in abortion, gay rights, a strong dollar, and a very strong defense.

If you don't have the safety and security needed to be able to debate abortion or gay rights, those issues become irrelevant as everyone tries to survive. Those questions weren't raised in Bosnia and Rwanda. They certainly aren't being raised in Zimbwabe now, or in Liberia again. You cannot shirk your security needs if you wish to advance socially.

Maybe in another 10000 years we will mature as a people to where defense is no longer required. As a retired combat vet, I would love to see the day.

I just don't believe it will happen in less than 10000 years.