Memories… Remember when John McCain Killed Dwell Time Posted by Max Bergmann

As McCain speaks tonight at the Naval Academy I doubt he will mention his part in “leading the charge” against providing our troops proper rest and recuperation. But it is worth recounting.

Last fall it looked like the two Senators from Virginia, Republican John Warner and Democrat Jim Webb, had carved out a bi-partisan agreement to ensure that our troops got proper time to rest, recover, and train before being sent back to Iraq. The proposed “dwell time” amendment would require that deployments stick to Army and Marine Corps standards of at least one month at home for one month deployed. With Warner on board it looked like the amendment would reach 60 votes to pass the Senate. Yet, in swept John McCain who stunned the Senate by getting Warner to offer with him a watered down toothless version that would reflect the “sense” of the Senate rather than its “will,” meaning it would do nothing to address the issue. The straight talk express indeed. [See the video of McCain killing dwell time and Webb’s response.]

Dwell time has been, as it should be, mostly discussed in moral terms –  that a country should both honor its commitment to those putting their lives on the line and that we must seek to minimize the strain placed on military families that have already gone through so much. But less mentioned are the strategic national security implications of shortening dwell time. In short, by accelerating and extending deployments and infringing upon dwell time for our troops, we are breaking the ground forces and weakening the military strength of this country.

The Post summarizes testimony on Tuesday from the Army and Marines:

Senior Army and Marine Corps leaders said yesterday that the increase of more than 30,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has put unsustainable levels of stress on U.S. ground forces and has put their readiness to fight other conflicts at the lowest level in years.

General Cody, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, said the heavy deployments are not just inflicting "incredible stress" on soldiers and families but that they pose "a significant risk" to the nation's all-volunteer military.

Cody added that the surge has depleted all of the Army’s reserves meaning that we cannot respond to anything else.  We are totally vulnerable.

"When the five-brigade surge went in . . . that took all the stroke out of the shock absorbers for the United States Army," Cody testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee's readiness panel.

"I've never seen our lack of strategic depth be where it is today," said Cody, who has been the senior Army official in charge of operations and readiness for the past six years and plans to retire this summer… Cody said that the Army no longer has fully ready combat brigades on standby should a threat or conflict occur. The nation needs an airborne brigade, a heavy brigade and a Stryker brigade ready for "full-spectrum operations," Cody said, "and we don't have that today."

The Marine Corps' ability to train for potential conflicts has been "significantly degraded," said Gen. Robert Magnus, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps.

"There has been little, if any, change of the stress or tempo for our forces," he said, calling the current pace of operations "unsustainable." The Marine Corps is "basically in two boats (Iraq and Afghanistan) at the same time," he said.

…The testimony reflects the tension between the wartime priorities of U.S. commanders in Iraq such as Petraeus and the heads of military services responsible for the health and preparedness of the forces.

General Cody pointed out that the damage was not easily repaired even if proper dwell time was reestablished:

He said that even if five brigades are pulled out of Iraq by July, as planned, it would take some time before the Army could return to 12-month tours for soldiers.

"Where we need to be with this force is no more than 12 months on the ground and 24 months back," Cody said.

Unfortunately, “where we need to be with this force” won’t happen if John McCain has his way. 

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The Army no longer has fully ready combat brigades on standby to invade Iran and the Marine Corps' ability to train for potential conflict in Iran has been significantly degraded. What a shame, when longer dwell times would have given us these capabilities! Thank you, Senator McCain.

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THE CLAIM:
General Cody, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, said the heavy deployments are not just inflicting "incredible stress" on soldiers and families but that they pose "a significant risk" to the nation's all-volunteer military.

THE FACTS:
US Army re-enlistment
Year Mission Actual %
FY07 62,000 69,777 112.0%
FY06 64,200 67,307 104.8%
FY05 64,162 69,512 108.3%
FY04 56,100 60,010 107.0%
FY03 51,000 54,151 106.2%
FY02 56,800 58,237 102.5%
FY01 64,000 64,982 101.5%
FY00 68,000 71,318 104.9%
Source: US Army

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Being a fly boy isn't the same as being a grunt. McCain's understanding of military operations are highly overrated. In World War II the army estimated that a man's effectiveness in combat is ninety days. In order to achieve maximum effectiveness, troops would be rotated out from the front and they could rely on being replaced by truly fresh troops before the next campaign.That was a war with clear objectives. This occupation has no clear political or military objective, nor can the troops rely on relief from fresh replacements. With each redeployment into the uncertain environment that Iraq has become will make it more difficult for troops to survive unless all they do is hunker down.The cogent argument for McCain is then if we're to spend a century in Iraq, then he better be prepared to call for a draft.

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The Army no longer has fully ready combat brigades on standby to invade Iran and the Marine Corps' ability to train for potential conflict in Iran has been significantly degraded.

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The Guard is not structured for multiple recurring deployments of this length.They've been trying to fight this war on the cheap and they're overextending the National Guard rather than increasing the size of the active duty force.

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The testimony reflects the tension between the wartime priorities of U.S. commanders in Iraq such as Petraeus and the heads of military services responsible for the health and preparedness of the forces.

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Active duty personnel expect to spend a lot of time on deployments. However, it's a different story with the National Guard. The Guard is not structured for multiple recurring deployments of this length. They've been trying to fight this war on the cheap and they're overextending the National Guard rather than increasing the size of the active duty force.

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The cogent argument for McCain is then if they're to spend a century in Iraq, then they better be prepared to call for a draft.

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thanks info in this article...General Cody, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, said the heavy deployments are not just inflicting "incredible stress" on soldiers and families but that they pose "a significant risk" to the nation's all-volunteer military.thanks for this usefull informations

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With each redeployment into the uncertain environment that Iraq has become will make it more difficult for troops to survive unless all they do is hunker down.The cogent argument for McCain is then if we're to spend a century in Iraq, then he better be prepared to call for a draft.

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Cody, The Senior Army official said "I've never seen our lack of strategic depth be where it is today"..

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