Soldiers Won't Get Shorter Combat Tours
2 hours, 24 minutes ago Middle East - AP
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON - The Army will not shorten combat tours in Iraq (news - web sites) next year from 12 months to six or nine months, as some had hoped, because that would undermine the war effort, the Army's top general said Tuesday.
Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, told a group of reporters that he would prefer shorter combat tours in Iraq but believes that cannot happen as long as the U.S. military is required to maintain roughly the 135,000 troops there now to fight the insurgency.
The Army and Marine Corps are preparing to maintain that level at least through the end of next year. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has said that if U.S.-trained and equipped Iraqi security forces become available in larger numbers next year, as expected, then U.S. troops levels may be reduced.
On a related matter, the Army's vice chief of staff, Gen. Richard Cody, said the Army has not been asked to accelerate the deployment of a fresh rotation of troops into Iraq. These include four brigades of the 3rd Infantry Division, which is scheduled to go there in January.
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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041026/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_iraq_deployments_1
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