Datos de DOD: Forzado para permanecer en ejército
Miércoles 23 de abril de 2008
Por Arroyo de Tom Vanden |
El ejército ha acelerado su política de extensiones involuntarias del deber para alentar sus niveles de la tropa, a pesar de orden de las puertas de Roberto de la secretaria de la defensa' el año pasado para limitarla, demostración de los expedientes del pentágono.
Las puertas ordenaron a presidente de los jefes de personal comunes y las secretarias del servicio reducir al mínimo extensiones obligatorias del viaje, conocidos como “pérdida de la parada,” en enero de 2007. Por mayo, el número de los soldados afectados por la política había caído a un punto bajo de tres años de 8.540.
Desde entonces, el número de los soldados forzados permanecer en el ejército se levantó el 43% a 12.235 de marcha. La confianza en pérdida de la parada ha aumentado mientras que los militares han enviado más tropas a Iraq y viajes ampliados a 15 meses a la ayuda una escalada en los E.E.U.U. fuerzas pedidas por presidente Bush. El aumento el mes pasado fue conducido por la necesidad de enviar a soldados de un protector más nacional a Iraq.
Los soldados afectados por pérdida de la parada ahora desempen'an servicios, en promedio, 6.6 meses adicionales, secretaria de prensa del pentágono Geoff Morrell dicho. Los líderes dominantes en el nivel de la pequeño-unidad - sargentos a través de la primera clase de los sargentos - componen el 45% de esos soldados. Los soldados alistan típicamente para las restricciones de cuatro años.
La “secretaria que las puertas entienden las actitudes de la pérdida de la parada de la dificultad a nuestras tropas y sus familias, pero él también entiende la necesidad de mantener unidades cohesivas en el campo de batalla a través del despliegue,” Morrell dicho. Las “tropas que han entrenado juntas y han luchado juntas deben permanecer juntas.”
La tendencia es alarmante, dijo el representante. Christopher Shays, R-Conec., que escribieron una letra el 17 de abril a las puertas que lo impulsaban “en los términos más fuertes” a la pérdida de la parada de límite.
El año pasado, Shays y tres otros miembros de la casa escribieron a puertas un refrán similar de la letra que fueron referidos sobre usar la política para alentar las fuerzas para la oleada supuesta. Lastima moral, las cargas marchan las' familias, dañan la credibilidad de líderes militares y amenazan el reclutamiento, ellas escribieron.
La pérdida de la parada puede mantener a un soldado el servicio si su unidad despliega en el plazo de 90 días del final de la comisión del soldado. Es necesario, el ejército dice, mantener la integridad de las unidades dirigidas para guerrear. En todos, pérdida de la parada desde 2002 han afectado a 58.300 soldados, según el ejército. That’s about 1% of active duty, Reserve and National Guard troops. For the 3rd Infantry Division, which is responsible for a portion of Iraq south of Baghdad, about 1,500 of its 22,500 soldiers is serving under stop loss, according to Maj. Alayne Conway.
Shays said the nation needs a bigger Army. In the meantime, he urges the Pentagon to press more personnel from the Air Force and Navy into Army jobs.
PENTAGON MEMO:Army’s response to minimizing stop loss (pdf)
The policy shows the Army is “unraveling a bit” while “under tremendous strain,” said Rep. Joe Sestak, a Pennsylvania Democrat and retired vice admiral. Sestak, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said relying on stop loss could be masking problems the Army is having with recruiting.
“We don’t have the individual in terms of quality or quantity to take that next individual’s place so that he could finish his tour and go home,” Sestak said. “This is five years into the war. I don’t think this is insignificant.”
James Martin, a social work professor at Bryn Mawr College and retired Army colonel, said stop loss is the result of an Army that’s too small to meet its commitments in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Sergeants are often most affected.
“These are the guys who bear the brunt of it,” Martin said. “They just get put back into the grinder continually.”
In January 2007, Gates wrote to secretaries of the services and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that included a directive to submit plans to “minimize the use of Stop Loss.” In reply, then-Army secretary Francis Harvey wrote that the Army would pay soldiers facing stop loss $300 extra per month “to extend their enlistment to complete their deployment.”
PENTAGON MEMO: Gates addresses stop loss (pdf)
Harvey wrote that the plan “could reduce the number of soldiers affected by (stop loss) by as much as 50%.” Soldiers who didn’t take the pay, he added, would still be subject to involuntary extension.
Lt. Gen. James Thurman, Pentagon deputy chief of staff for operations, said Monday he hoped the Army could put a stop to mandatory extensions by fall 2009.
Although some soldiers say they understand the reasons for stop loss, it doesn’t boost morale, said Robert Sauder, 24, a staff sergeant who was involuntarily retained in 2006 when he was preparing to leave the service. By then, he’d spent 13 months in Afghanistan. Then he spent 15 months in Iraq.
Sauder, of Baroda, Mich., said he “was pretty sour about the whole situation.”
Near Kirkuk, he and his comrades dodged rockets, mortars and roadside bombs. “It ended up pretty good for me and my guys. We made it back alive.”
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008at 3:09 amand is filed under War & Terrorism News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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