Delicate Balance Between Troop Levels, Readiness

Apr-11-2008 14:25
Chairman: Delicate Balance Between Troop Levels, Readiness
Salem-News.com
All military leaders are concerned about the stress on the force, especially the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said shortening the Army’s deployment length from 15 months to 12 months, which President Bush announced yesterday, is a significant step forward in reducing stress on the force.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - As the United States continues its mission in Iraq and Afghanistan and also works to reduce deployment lengths for servicemembers, leaders must maintain a balance to ensure vital missions are carried out while maintaining the health of the force, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today.

“There’s a very delicate balance right now between the needs, and our top mission right now is to deploy troops to Iraq and improve security there,” Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said on CNN’s “American Morning.” “After that, we need to focus on both providing troops and capability to Afghanistan, and the third piece of this is the health of the force.”

Mullen said shortening the Army’s deployment length from 15 months to 12 months, which President Bush announced yesterday, is a significant step forward in reducing stress on the force.

“Our forces, in particular our ground forces, are under tremendous pressure and tremendous stress,” Mullen said. “That said, they are also doing exceptionally well. They love what they’re doing, they’re resilient, and they’re making a difference where they’re employed.”

All military leaders are concerned about the stress on the force, especially the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, Mullen said. About 10 to 15 percent of the Army has been on three or four deployments, he said, and leaders are working to recognize and treat PTSD and other combat-related illnesses.

The United States has had tremendous success in Iraq with the troop surge, Mullen emphasized. Security has improved dramatically, which has allowed U.S. officials to start thinking about future troop withdrawals after the last of the surge brigades leaves Iraq in July, he said. Yesterday, Bush endorsed the recommendation of Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, to take a 45-day period of evaluation after the last surge brigades leave Iraq in July to determine future troop levels.

The goal for Iraq is still a country that can govern itself, secure itself and provide for its people, Mullen said. Progress has been made toward that end, he said, and the United States is continuing to work with Iraqi security forces to sustain success.

“The security right now is fragile, and it’s not irreversible yet; we need to get it to the point where it is,” he said.

Story by: Army Sgt. Sara Moore
Courtesy: American Forces Press Service

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/april112008/iraq_ptsd_041108.php

Whatever you think about the occupation of Iraq, however much you dismiss the occupation of Afghanistan the way most politicians do, there is one thing that you cannot dismiss. The troops. The men and women serving in both occupations, risking their lives on a daily basis, leaving their family and friends behind year after year and especially the National Guard Forces and Reservists, need our undivided attention.

When it comes to them, ending the occupation of Iraq and "brining them home" is something for the future. It is clear that nothing will be done until there is a new president in command and making the decisions. That is unless the person happens to be John McCain. We already know what he will do and he sees nothing wrong with anything going on. While it is necessary to find a way out of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as crushing Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan/Pakistan, we cannot solve those problems today. We can, however and we must solve the unending burden on the men and women serving today and the veterans of yesterday.

We hear the claims on a daily basis that reenlistment goals have been reached but we only occasionally hear how this has been accomplished. The requirements for education have been dropped and staggering numbers have had to receive moral wavers because of past arrests. Gang members have been allowed to join as well. We no longer have a military made up of the best and brightest only but one of a blend of the best and the worst society has to offer as long as there is a body to fill the slot. Reenlistment challenges have also been met by huge pay off bonuses and promises they have yet to keep.

Added into all of this is the fact the military has seen fit to redeploy men and women already diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder packing prescription medicine to calm them down, help them sleep and try to fend off the ravages of PTSD psychological challenges they should be in treatment for instead of reintroduced back into the same kind of traumatic surroundings of combat that caused PTSD in the first place.

None of this begins to approach the stress this adds to the families they leave behind. It does not address the National Guards and Reservists who leave behind their incomes from their jobs and their businesses along with the debts the rest of us have to deal with in this economy.

People can rant all they want about the need to do this to the men and women serving. They can ignore what experts have said for years about the fact for every year deployed into combat, they need two years to rest. They can ignore the fact that this was not even allowed during Vietnam. Most were deployed once for 12 months and that was it. Some served more willingly. It was up to them. They were not forced to do more. Today, we see the stop-loss policy keeping them in no matter if they want to go or not. They are forced into staying in the military longer than they had agreed to.

If the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan is so vital to our security then we need to start to ask some very serious questions. The first one is, why hasn't there been a draft to make sure there was the manpower in both occupations? Why has there never been one single time when the funding for both occupations was included in the regular budget instead of requested in supplemental war funding requests? Why has there been absolutely no accountability from the White House down to the military brass for the failures to "accomplish the missions" in both occupations? Why has no one even addressed the fact NATO has taken over the lead role in Afghanistan? Why has no one been held accountable for the fact contractors of equal number of the military in Iraq and many more in Afghanistan been allowed the freedom to do as they please without restraints and without accounting for the shortcomings of the contracts they are supposed to be honoring?

There are so many unanswered questions thinking people are holding onto their heads waiting for them to spin off!

The most pressing issue before us is the wounded who are still not being taken care of. Read this blog on any day and you'll find several reports supplying the stories that prove very little has been done by the government for the wounded at the same time there have been hundreds of people stepping up to try to fill in the gaps the government should have been doing if they were honorable people but they have gotten away with it for so long that the people trying to make a difference and correct the damages being done to the wounded, that it will take many years before they even come close to taking care of all of them, at the same time each new day adds more of them.

The troops and their families expected on thing from us and that was that we would be a grateful nation. As a grateful nation, this requires every citizen in this nation to take to the streets and protest the way they have been treated. Again and again the fact that both sides of the debate claim to support the troops so let them prove it once and for all. The men and women serving today demand this of all of us if we are to be honest and honorable people. Today we can make a difference for all of them. Put the debate aside for their sake for now. There should be no debate on taking care of them with both sides claim to be fighting for all of them.

Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington