Army sending units back to Iraq early

[ck4829]

For just the second time since the war began, the Army is sending large units back to Iraq without giving them at least a year at home, defense officials said Monday.

The move signaled how stretched the U.S. fighting force has become.

A combat brigade from New York and a Texas headquarters unit will return to Iraq this summer in order to maintain through August the military buildup President Bush announced earlier this year. Overall, the Pentagon announced, 7,000 troops will be going to Iraq in the coming months as part of the effort to keep 20 brigades in the country to help bolster the Baghdad security plan. A brigade is roughly 3,000 soldiers.

The Army will try not to shorten the troops' U.S. time, "but in this case we had to," said a senior Army official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. "Obviously right now the Army is stretched," the official said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070402/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq_troops

[izzie]

1. Does this seem odd to you?

We have troops all over the world yet the same group keeps going back. Why not take them from Germany, Japan, or Korea? We have over 700 bases around the world. I do not get how this DOD works at all. I was married for years to a man in the service as a life job and I do not seem to see it working the same. Course that was years ago. Is it that we only have about 150,000 ready to fight men (plus Bush's private army he has over their) and the rest are some type of show people around the world or what? Why would we need a large group of men as a fighting force in Germany and Japan? I sort of understand Korea.

[shadowknows69]

2. Yeah the troops are wondering this themselves

the guys and girls up here at fort drum are some of the ones going back early. For many this will be their fourth tour. No shit.

[izzie]

4. Something seems wrong about it all.

So many NG in Iraq that when the storm hit the South Bush had to hire Blackwater at, what was it 700 a day per man to go there? We are spending more on the service than the rest of the big countries as a group and yet we can not get 150,000 men from the reg. army in one place at one time with out the NG. Something is wrong with all this. Just how much of the DOD budget is going to private armies and spy work plus digging up dirt on 'we the people'? Some one needs to find out just what is going on in the DOD . I knew Waxmen is trying but he gets a blank wall. :shrug: :shrug: :shrug:

[genie_weenie]

3. Lazy Bastards, need to get back into the Fun Zone