The Price of Pushing Our Troops Too Far

[unhappycamper]

The Price of Pushing Our Troops Too Far
William Astore
Writer, Professor, Retired Lt. Colonel, Air Force
Posted: December 15, 2009 04:38 PM

When I was on active duty in the military, an Army friend used to remind me: “Any day you’re not being shot at is a good Army day.” Today’s troops, especially if they’re “boots on the ground” in Iraq and Afghanistan, don’t have enough good Army days. Many of them are on their fourth or fifth deployments to a combat zone. They’re stressed out and tired; they miss their spouses and families. And often they’ve seen things they wish they’d never seen.

But you’d hardly have known this listening to the debate over President Obama’s decision to escalate yet again in Afghanistan. Its tone was remarkably antiseptic. I can’t help recalling old wargames I played as a kid in which deploying infantry brigades to faraway places was as simple as picking up a few cardboard counters, tossing the dice, and pinning my troops to a new spot on the map. No gore splattered on my face when I rolled snake eyes after pushing my grunts too far into the Fulda Gap while playing MechWar ‘77.

As we roll the dice again in Central Asia, it’s clear that we’re pushing our Army and Marines too far. Naturally, our troops, notably the brass, will deny this. For them, it’s “Army Strong” or “Semper Fi”; only losers whine or bellyache. Well, we Americans need to recognize the limits on our troops, even if they refuse to do so.

So let me be blunt: We’re wearing them out.

~snip~

Quietly, almost imperceptibly, our Army is hollowing out. Such is the predictable result of eight years of ceaseless deployments in support of ill-advised wars. Remarkably, the Army has, so far, managed to maintain its combat effectiveness, in part by its recourse to a “Stop Loss” policy -- essentially a backdoor draft (only recently curtailed by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates) that involuntarily extended the enlistments of 60,000 troops. It has also relied heavily on the use and reuse of the Reserves and the National Guard. Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania noted last month on Meet the Press that “our troops are tired and worn out. Pennsylvania National Guard, most of our guardsmen have been to either Iraq Afghanistan, over 85 percent, and many of them have gone three or four times and they’re wasted.”


Rest of article at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-astore/the-price-of-pushing-our_b_393226.html

[Qanisqineq]

1. my husband got out last year

he could have lasted a few more years and then retired with his 20 years in, but he is sick of the wars.

[TexasObserver]

2. Recommend, because it is outrageous how often they rotate troops into the war.

I don't know how these families can get through this kind of chronic chaos. It's one thing for a guy who loves it, a guy who isn't married or has kids, going over there and fighting tour after tour because he likes it. But sending family people over and over is a family killer. It destroys families.

I highly recommend the film STOP LOSS, on this topic.

[jeanpalmer]

3. Kick. Using the same soldiers

over and over again is mistreating them imo. There is an alternative -- a draft. A draft would spread the burden around so that no one gets stuck with it time after time. Generally, when we've had long-term large involvements like Iraq, Afghanista, and now Yemen, the draft has been started to spread the burden around. It's really cowardly and imposes a tremendous hardship on soldier and family to continue to operate in this fashion.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/yemen/6803120/US-special-forces-train-Yemen-army-as-Arab-state-becomes-al-Qaeda-reserve-base.html

[elocs]

4. My 20 year old godson finished his 1st tour in Afghanistan last spring.

He was stationed in the mountains of NE Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan. He was not allowed to perform the duties for which he was trained because that work was given to private contractors.

He goes to Germany in the spring, but my guess is that he will be back in Afghanistan sometime next year, and then again and again until he is either too wounded to fight, a mental case, or dead. I had really hoped with the election of Obama that this would not be the scenario, but it looks like that is just the way it will be.

[L0oniX]

5. Don't worry. Obama said we'd be out of Iraq in 18 months ...only 6 more months to go.

BTW I have a nice slightly used bridge for sale in Brooklyn.