Army sending soldiers back to Iraq, cutting ‘dwell time’

[lebkuchen]

The Army is sending a company of Europe-based soldiers back to Iraq before the unit has had a full 12 months of “dwell time,” or at-home rest.

Members of the 1st Armored Division’s 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry, Company A, learned Tuesday that they are scheduled to head back to Iraq in November, just nine months after the 150-soldier company left the combat zone in February after a 13-month deployment.

The company’s return would seem to counter a pledge made by Defense Secretary Robert Gates on April 11, when he announced that all active-duty soldiers will spend 15 months in Iraq and Afghanistan, instead of a year.

The primary reason for the extension, Gates said, was to make sure that Army units, and their personnel, had enough time to rest and renew themselves for the fight between deployments.

“What we’re trying to do here is provide some long-term predictability for the soldiers and their families about how long their deployments will be and how long they will be at home, and particularly guaranteeing that they will be at home for a full 12 months,” Gates said April 11.

But asked late Wednesday about the situation, Gates said he could not explain why the Army was sending back the company from Germany just nine months after its last Iraq deployment.

“I'll be very interested in finding out more about that,” Gates said. “We just need to find out about that, because I made it clear that people would have 12 months at home.”

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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=45750


The US military is in its last throes in Iraq, and the Army isn't making any quota, whether enlistment or retention, despite all the flowery talk stating otherwise; that's why the 9 month dwell time. Gates is desperate.

[Ferret Annica]

1. The chimp doesn't care about what you say Gates

Get used to it. He is the commander guy, remember?

Sooner or later you will have to face it, the sane thing to do for you or anyone in that administration where Bush is like the dead albatross around the neck of a cursed mariner like the epic poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is to run. Run as long and far away from that horrible place you are at as Secretary of Defense under him.