Army: Service Must Cut Combat Tours

[Terri]

By ANNE FLAHERTY
Associated Press
February 27, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Army's top general said Tuesday he wants to reduce combat tours for soldiers in Iraq from 15 months to 12 months this summer -- and hopes that sticks.

Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, told a Senate panel he would not embrace going back to the longer tours even if President Bush decided to suspend troop reductions for the second half of the year. The Army is under serious strain from years of war-fighting, he testified, and must reduce the length of combat tours as soon as possible.

''The cumulative effects of the last six-plus years at war have left our Army out of balance, consumed by the current fight and unable to do the things we know we need to do to properly sustain our all-volunteer force and restore our flexibility for an uncertain future,'' Casey said.

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[FlaJim]

Gen. Casey seems to spend more time talking with general officers in the Pentagon than with those in the field. The vast majority of our troops want to see this fight through to a clear win. In evidence, look at the high number who volunteer for additional tours of duty.