Gen. Casey Says Ending Stop Loss Is Priority

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Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, shakes hands with Sgt. Jose Sepulveda as he greets some spouses of deployed soldiers Friday morning at Camp Zama, Japan. Andrea Gay/Courtesy of the U.S. Army


Gen. Casey Says Ending Stop Loss Is Priority

Army chief visits bases in Pacific
By Vince Little, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, December 21, 2008



CAMP ZAMA, Japan — Ending the Army’s reliance on stop loss to maintain troop levels in war zones is a priority now, even though the practice of keeping soldiers beyond their enlistment won’t officially end for nearly two more years, the Army’s chief of staff said Friday during a tour of bases in Japan and South Korea.

By October 2010, the Army will be able to deploy "at a sustainable rotation ratio" without leaning on stop loss, Gen. George Casey said during an interview at Camp Zama.

"For us to get there, we need to … start weaning ourselves off that as soon as possible," he said. "We must start it sooner rather than later."

Faced with shrinking budgets and a range of global threats, the Army also must maintain its conventional warfare capabilities while sustaining "the world’s best counterinsurgency force," Casey said.

He also discussed efforts to grow the ranks, expand time between deployments and incorporate training changes.

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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59537