Bill calls for equal deployment-to-dwell time

[unhappycamper]

Bill calls for equal deployment-to-dwell time
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 12, 2009 14:52:44 EST

A key member of the House Armed Services Committee has reintroduced legislation that would give active-duty troops a minimum of one month home for every month they are deployed, and National Guard and Reserve members would be guaranteed three months of rest for every month deployed.

Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., who introduced the legislation Thursday, isn’t the first person to propose so-called “dwell time” legislation, but she is one of the most persistent. She is moving early in the 2009 legislative session to push an issue that the Bush administration strongly opposed when lawmakers tried in recent years to include a fixed formula for time off in war-funding legislation.

“Our military is heading toward a breaking point if we don’t change direction,” Tauscher said in a statement. “Our troops need more time to rest, reset and regroup between deployments.”

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also is considering pushing similar dwell time legislation, according to his spokeswoman, Jessica Smith.

She said Webb “remains deeply concerned about issues of individual and unit rotation, and the impact that multiple deployments with insufficient dwell time are having on our service members, especially those serving in the Army and Marine Corps.”


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/02/military_dwelltime_021209w/%2e