Mullen Cites Need for More 'Dwell Time'

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Mullen Cites Need for More 'Dwell Time'
February 20, 2009
American Forces Press Service|by Samantha L. Quigley

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. - The nation's top military officer expressed concern here about servicemembers and their families "toughing it out" with frequent deployments and little time together between those deployments.

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, talked about the stresses of war and a variety of other topics in a town-hall meeting Feb. 19 with servicemembers and civilians.

In answer to a question from the audience, Admiral Mullen acknowledged that even when troops theoretically have 12 months of "dwell time" between deployments, that's not really the case when they have to spend part of that time away from their families training for their next deployment.

"The way the families are handling this thing is they're just toughing it out until they get the relief," he said. "There's a concern about how long they can tough it out. We're going to have to continue to focus on that."

Suicide rates are increasing in all of the services, dramatically in the Army, Admiral Mullen said.


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