Deployments will delay Army’s dwell time goal

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Deployments will delay Army’s dwell time goal
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, December 5, 2009

ARLINGTON, Va. — The deployment of extra troops to Afghanistan will delay the Army’s efforts to give soldiers more time at home, but it will not shorten the time between deployments that soldiers now have.

The Army had planned to give active-duty soldiers two years of dwell time for every year deployed and give reserve component soldiers four years between deployments. The increased time between deployments was made possible by the expected drawdown in Iraq from 115,000 to 50,000 troops by the end of August.

Now, with up to 33,000 extra U.S. troops expected to arrive in Afghanistan by fall, those plans for increased time at home will be adjusted, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers Wednesday during testimony about the Afghanistan plan.

"With this deployment and decision, we expect it to probably take a couple more years to get to a point where (the Army is) out to two-to-one," Mullen told lawmakers.

The Army expects that by 2011, 70 percent of active-duty soldiers will get two years between deployments and 80 percent of National Guardsmen and reservists will get four years, Army spokesman Lt. Col. Lee Packnett said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66473