Pentagon eyes plan to increase Army by 30,000

[babylonsister]

Pentagon eyes plan to increase Army by 30,000

By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon is considering a plan to add 30,000 soldiers to the Army to bolster a force depleted by a growing number of troops who are wounded, stressed or for other reasons cannot deploy with their units.

Struggling to wage wars on two fronts, the Army says it needs a temporary increase in order to fill vacancies in units heading to the battlefront.

The 547,000 member active duty force was beefed up by 65,000 in recent years, but military leaders say it hasn't been enough to make up for the roughly 30,000 soldiers who - at any one time - are injured, pregnant, suffering from post-traumatic stress or health problems, or have been assigned to other jobs.

Military leaders have been warning Congress that the problem has been getting worse, as the number of soldiers unable to return to the battlefield has increased by as much as 3,000 in the last several years, according to Gen. Pete Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff.

"It is a stretched and sometimes tired force that is meeting all the requirements, but at the same time it is difficult to get our units up to the operating strength they need to before deployment," Chiarelli said.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GROWING_THE_ARMY?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[varelse]

1. The ever-rising unemployment rate is likely to help the army in their recruiting efforts

Especially if/when real health care reform fails to materialize.

[flyarm]

2. More of that "change we can believe in " eh????? eom

[babylonsister]

3. Ah! The broken record showed up! nt

[City Lights]

4. They called for my 17-year-old daughter the other day,

despite the fact that we supposedly opted out when we registered her for H.S. In order to remove her from their contact list they had to talk to her directly. When she got on the phone they started going through their whole script with her. She finally told them she was going to college and asked to have her name removed from their list.

[babylonsister]

6. Good, I'm glad she told them to remove her name. I hope they listen. nt

[imdjh]

5. It would be really cool if they could help at risk youth, but one can imagine the howls.

I know that doing things the old fashioned way just makes some folks want to scream, but my uncle was something of a juvenile delinquent and when he was given the choice of going to the army or going to reform school, he chose the army. He's comfortably retired after serving in the Army, getting an education and becoming a pilot in the Air Force, and having a second career in private industry. We're all pretty proud of him.

It would be so cool if diversion programs could salvage some of America's misguided youth through discipline and education in the US military.


Fire away folks, it's how I feel.

[Autumn]

7. Jobs!!! At last an answer to

the unemployment problem.:sarcasm: