Does The Military Really Have Enough Troops?
The_Finch
Join Date: 2002-11-13 Member: 8498Members
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<div class="IPBDescription">New Stop-Loss Measures In Effect</div> <a href='http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/02/us.military.iraq.ap/index.html' target='_blank'>Army Holds Troops Past Retirement</a>
With extended tours of duty for Army NG and Reserve units and the new measures to hold soldiers that would retire until their unit's tour in Iraq is done and stop-loss measures widening in effect (45,000 have been prevented from retiring on time due to stop loss since January 2002), can anybody really say that the Army isn't stretched too thin?
NG and Reserve units aren't as well trained or equipped as regular Army units. It's not a matter of dedication, but simply a matter of time involved. The equipment is regularly hand-me-downs from full-time units and they don't train nearly as much. Heck, the NG was originally formed to stop union riots back in the mid 1800s. That's why you see armories all over the place.
With an additional 20,000 troops being deployed to the region to try and quell the violence, the military will be strained further.
What measures do you think should be taken to alleviate the shortages?
With extended tours of duty for Army NG and Reserve units and the new measures to hold soldiers that would retire until their unit's tour in Iraq is done and stop-loss measures widening in effect (45,000 have been prevented from retiring on time due to stop loss since January 2002), can anybody really say that the Army isn't stretched too thin?
NG and Reserve units aren't as well trained or equipped as regular Army units. It's not a matter of dedication, but simply a matter of time involved. The equipment is regularly hand-me-downs from full-time units and they don't train nearly as much. Heck, the NG was originally formed to stop union riots back in the mid 1800s. That's why you see armories all over the place.
With an additional 20,000 troops being deployed to the region to try and quell the violence, the military will be strained further.
What measures do you think should be taken to alleviate the shortages?
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