Marine Corps May Need to Grow, General Says

[cal04]

Commandant Cites Pace of Iraq and Afghanistan Rotations, Readiness Requirements
The Marine Corps may need to grow to sustain deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan without sacrificing needed training or putting undue stress on the corps, the new Marine commandant said yesterday.

At a breakfast meeting with reporters, Gen. James T. Conway also warned that it could take years to adequately train and equip the Iraqi security forces -- longer, perhaps, "than the timeline that we probably feel . . . our country will support."

"This is tough work. It doesn't happen overnight," and patience by the American people will be needed, he said. On the plus side, he said, Marines he has talked to in recent days are encouraged by the progress they are seeing among Iraqi forces.

Conway said the current pace of Marine rotations to Iraq -- seven months there and seven to nine months at home -- is limiting other types of training that units can receive and could eventually prompt Marines to leave the service.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/22/AR2006112201678.html

Top Marine: Troops under too much strain
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/22/us.marines/index.html

[NOLADEM]

1. Then you guys better get busy recruiting all these Young Republicans

And quit calling my brothers.

Vampires.

[babylonsister]

2. The military may need to give the stalwart soldiers a break.

Ya thinnk?

[Telly Savalas]

3. The United States spends about as much on its military as

the rest of the world combined. The Marines don't need to grow. They need to be removed from their present assignment of occupying a country on the other side of the world.