CMC: More dwell time between Afghan tours

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Commandant Gen. James T. Conway, left, says he wants Marines to have more time to train for operations they've been too busy for since the force has been locked down in Iraq.


CMC: More dwell time between Afghan tours
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jan 16, 2009 6:03:55 EST

Marines shipping out to Afghanistan this year eventually will spend twice as much time at home as deployed, Commandant Gen. James Conway said Thursday.

Conway said he doesn’t know yet exactly how many Marines will go to Afghanistan, but he said it would be fewer than 20,000. And as the Corps swells to 202,000 active-duty Marines, a goal the service expects to reach later this year, those deployed troops could spend about 14 months at home for every seven months they spent in theater, he said.

But that’s only partly meant to afford troops more time off with their families, Conway said. Just as important, he wants Marines to have more time to train for operations they’ve been too busy for since the force has been locked down in Iraq.

“You don’t have time to do mountain warfare training, or jungle training, or cold weather training, and most importantly to us, we’re not doing amphibious training with our brothers in the Navy, because we just don’t have time,” he said. “Now, we’ve got to fix that.”

Conway made his presentation at the national symposium of the Surface Navy Association, outside Washington, D.C., to an audience composed mostly of active and retired naval officers and defense contractors.


Rest of article at: http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/01/marine_afghan_dwelltime_011509w/%2e