Military leaders: Forces ‘under stress’

[unhappycamper]

Military leaders: Forces ‘under stress’
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, April 11, 2008

WASHINGTON — Soldiers and Marines are competently handling the counterinsurgency missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they may not be ready to respond to other contingencies, leaders of two ground forces told lawmakers Wednesday.

In a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody and Gen. Robert Magnus, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, said that the readiness of their respective forces has been significantly degraded by the dual wars.

“We’re stretching, we’re under stress,” Magnus said. “We are sustaining significant risk for other contingencies.”

Training in combined arms and amphibious operations, in particular, has suffered in the Marine Corps, Magnus said.

As for the Army, “Our readiness is being consumed as fast as we build it,” Cody said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53974

[Maggie_May]

1. Not only are the soldiers stressed.

the families also are stressed. They can't keep this up.

[Maggie_May]

2. Other problems because of stress

U.S. soldiers are committing suicide at record levels, young officers are abandoning their military careers, and the heavy use of forces in Iraq has made it harder for the military to fight conflicts that could arise elsewhere.
Military depots have been working in high gear to repair or rebuild hundreds of thousands of pieces of equipment — from radios to vehicles to weapons — that are being overused and worn out in harsh battlefield conditions. The Defense Department has asked for $46.5 billion in this year's war budget to repair and replace equipment damaged or destroyed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24036546/