How is the Pentagon keeping troop strength up in Iraq?
4,000 troops from the 1st Brigade of the 1st Armored Division, operating near Ramadi and nearing the end of their year-long tours of duty, have just been informed that they will be held in Iraq at least 6 more weeks. This is not an isolated incident, according to Robert Burns of the Associated Press. Units are also being sent to Iraq ahead of schedule. Army policy has been to give soldiers two years at home between combat tours. This year alone, the time between tours has shrunk from 18 to 14 months. “In the case of the 3rd Infantry,” writes Burns, “it appears at least one brigade will get only about 12 months because it is heading for Iraq to replace the extended brigade of the 1st Armored.” And this may increasingly prove the norm. According to Senior Rand Corporation analyst Lynn Davis, main author of “Stretched Thin,” a report on Army deployments, “soldiers in today’s armored, mechanized and Stryker brigades, which are most in demand, can expect to be away from home for ‘a little o
