U.S. News







Army Chief Wants to Speed Up Troop Hike
Published: 4/29/07, 10:05 AM EDT
By AUDREY McAVOY
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii (AP) - The Army's new chief of staff says he
wants to accelerate by two years a plan to increase the nation's
active-duty soldiers by 65,000.

The Army has set 2012 as its target date for a force expansion to
547,000 troops, but Gen. George Casey said Saturday that he has told his
staff to have the soldiers ready earlier.

"I said that's too long. Go back and tell me what it would take to get
it done faster," he said in an interview with The Associated Press
during a stop in Hawaii.

Casey became the Army's chief of staff on April 12 after serving as the
top U.S. commander in Iraq for two-and-a-half years. He visited Hawaii
for a few days in a Pacific region tour to talk with soldiers and their
families. He next heads to Japan, South Korea and Alaska.

Casey said his staff has submitted a proposal for the accelerated
timeline but that he has yet to approve the plan. He said the Army was
stretched and would remain that way until the additional troops were
trained and equipped.

Casey told a group of soldiers' spouses that one of his tasks is to try
to limit the impact of the strain on soldiers and their families.

"We live in a difficult period for the Army because the demand for our
forces exceeds the supply," he said.

A woman in the group asked Casey if her husband's deployments would stop
getting longer. She said they used to last for six months in the 1990s
but then started lasting nine months and 12 months. Two weeks ago, she
heard the Army's announcement that deployments would be extended as long
as 15 months.

"Do you honestly foresee this spiral, in effect, stopping?" she asked.

Casey said the Army wants to keep deployments to 15 months, but "I
cannot look at you in the eye and guarantee that it would not go
beyond."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates in January said he was recommending to
the president that the Army boost its active-duty soldiers by 65,000 to
547,000. Casey said about 35,000 of those additional soldiers are
already in place.

Gates also recommended that the Marine Corps increase its active-duty
force by 27,000 to 202,000.

I like how he never answered the ladies question. She wasnt asking if
the deployments would keep getting longer. She wanted to know if they
would go back to amore reasonable length of time. And I see that as a
very major issue. Our troops should not have to be away from their
families for more than six months tops for any reason. This extension
to 15 months and maybe longer is bull****. As far as I am concerned if
it is going to be a year or longer, then it isnot a deployment it is a
permenant Change of Station (PCS). And again our troops should not have
to be away from their families that long!