The Cost of War in Iraq on Our Troops

Extended Tours of Duty Put Additional Strain on an Army Already Stretched Thin

This morning, President Bush is expected to announce his plan to roll back the Army's three-month additional tour of duty implemented last year (resulting in 15-months tours of duty) -- returning it to 12-months effective August 2008. The surge ordered by President Bush last January required the extension in deployment length. It is the redeployment of the surge troops out of Iraq, now nearly half complete, rather than any decision by the President to reduce the strain on our military, that is the reason for the reduction in the length of future deployments.

While it will be a comfort to those deployed after August 1st and their families that they will no longer be subjected to mandatory extended tours of duty, the American people remain concerned about the impact of President Bush's Iraq policies on our Armed Forces. Lengthy and repeated deployments are taking a grave toll on our troops and our military readiness here at home and abroad.

In the Words of Military Leaders & Experts:

General George Casey, Army Chief of Staff

Fifteen-month long deployments are "impacting on their families, it's impacting on their mental health. We just can't keep going at the rate that we're going." [Wall Street Journal, 3/26/08]

Gen. Richard Cody, Army Vice Chief of Staff

"Lengthy and repeated deployments with insufficient recovery time have placed incredible stress on our soldiers and our families, testing the resolve of our all-volunteer force like never before." [New York Times, 4/6/08]

Lt. General Benjamin Mixon, Commanding General, U.S. Army Pacific

"We are going to have to change our strategy in Iraq to reduce the numbers of troops, and thereby reduce the rotations and increase the dwell time that we get back here at home." [Honolulu Advertiser, 1/27/08]

Lt. General Michael Rochelle, Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G1

"...I should mention that it's clear that the increase in suicide, as well as other measures that we track very, very closely, are a reflection of the amount of stress that's on the force." [Testimony before Senate Armed Services Committee, 2/27/08]

Brig. Gen. Michael Linnington, Deputy Commanding General, United States Army Infantry Center

"Money is not the issue...They want an opportunity to catch their breath before deploying again and to have some control over their futures. They're tired, and their families are tired." [Wall Street Journal, 3/26/08]

Ret. Admiral William Fallon (USN), Former Commander of U.S. Central Command

"...I will certainly tell you that I think that our troops are in need of a change in the deployment cycle. We've had too many, from my experience, of several of our key segments of the troop population -- senior NCOs, mid to junior officers -- on multiple rotations. I look at my commanders, and some of them have logged more months in Iraq in the last decade than they have at home by a significant amount." [Testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, 3/5/08]

Ret. Lt. General Theodore G. Stroup Jr., Former Personnel Chief

"Clearly, it's going to have an unpredictable impact on the retention of mid- and senior-grade noncommissioned officers. It already is having an impact on company-grade officers, the captains." [Washington Post, 4/12/07]

Ret. Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton

"...[T]he administration has failed to grow the armed forces to meet the foreign policy demands... So this surge is really on the backs of the American soldier, extending tour lengths to 15 months, and it's--it is a terrible impact on the US Army..." [Face the Nation, May 20, 2007]

Edwin Dorn, Former Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness

Extending Army tours of duty to 15-months has "set in motion a process that could easily break the Army over the next couple of years...It is setting the Army on a descending spiral. You make the job harder, you make the tours longer, you put additional stress on families -- all of which makes it harder to recruit new people." [Washington Post, 4/12/07]

The Facts

· Nearly 1.7 million U.S. troops have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since September 2001 -- more than 599,000 have been deployed more than once. [Department of Defense, 2/29/08]

· More than 782,000 servicemembers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan are parents with one or more children -- 40 percent have been deployed more than once. Nearly 35,000 troops have been separated from their children for four or more deployments. [Department of Defense, 2/29/08]

· Military leaders began addressing the strain of long deployments -- then 12-month tours -- on our troops in Iraq back in October 2004. In an October 4 memo to then-Army Chief of Staff Peter Schoomaker, Les Brownlee, acting Army Secretary at the time, wrote of the need to develop plans that would enable the Army "on fairly short notice to curtail tour lengths." [New York Times, 10/19/04]

· According to a report by the Army's Mental Health Advisory Team, "work-related problems due to stress, mental health problems and marital separations generally increased with each subsequent month of the deployment." [3/6/08]

· An estimated 2,100 troops tried to commit suicide or injure themselves last year -- up from 350 in 2002. [U.S. News & World Report, 2/25-3/3]

· An estimated three-quarter of a million troops have been discharged since the war in Iraq began -- many of whom with compromised mental and physical health. An estimated 260,000 have been treated at veterans' health facilities, nearly 100,000 have been diagnosed as having mental health conditions, and an additional 200,000 have received some level of care from walk-in facilities. [Linda Bilmes and Joseph Stiglitz, Excerpt:"The Three Trillion Dollar War," 2008]

· On August 2nd, House Democrats passed H.R. 3159, the Ensuring Military Readiness Through Stability & Predictability Deployment Policy Act, mandating that our troops are given time at home at least as long as their deployment time. The bill begins to remedy the damage and strain done to our forces by the Bush Administration's failed Iraq policy and restores our nation's military readiness and capability. It also puts an end to the revolving door of service our troops and their families have been through by requiring soldiers get at least the same amount of time at home as they spend at war. Unfortunately, the White House threatened to veto a similar provision introduced by Senator Jim Webb and Senate Republicans blocked it from coming to the floor for an up-or-down vote.