More convicted felons allowed to enlist in Army, Marines

April 21, 2008
More convicted felons allowed to enlist in Army, Marines

WASHINGTON - Under pressure to meet combat needs, the Army and Marine Corps brought in significantly more recruits with felony convictions last year than in 2006, including some with manslaughter and sex crime convictions.

Data released by a congressional committee shows the number of soldiers admitted to the Army with felony records jumped from 249 in 2006 to 511 in 2007. And the number of Marines with felonies rose from 208 to 350.

Those numbers represent a fraction of the more than 180,000 recruits brought in by the active duty Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2007. But they highlight a trend that has raised concerns both within the military and on Capitol Hill.

War at the Pentagon

April 13, 2008
War at the Pentagon

The most intense arguments over U.S. involvement in Iraq do not flare at this point on Capitol Hill or on the campaign trail. Those rhetorical battles pale in comparison to the high-stakes struggle being waged behind closed doors at the Pentagon.

On one side are the "fight-win guys," as some describe themselves. They are led by Gen. David Petraeus and other commanders who argue that the counterinsurgency struggle in Iraq must be pursued as the military's top priority and ultimately resolved on U.S. terms.

Arrayed against them are the uniformed chiefs of the military services who foresee a "broken army" emerging from an all-out commitment to Iraq that neglects other needs and potential
conflicts. It is time to rebuild Army tank battalions, Marine amphibious forces and other traditional instruments of big-nation warfare -- while muddling through in Iraq.

U.S. troops buy own gear for safety

March 6, 2008
U.S. troops buy own gear for safety

FORT BENNING, Ga. - Commando Military Supply on Victory Drive here is about as different from a musty Army surplus store as you can imagine.

More REI than M.A.S.H., Commando is regularly jam-packed with deploying grunts and sergeants, poking around for custom gear including $200 flashlights, $150 Oakley protective sunglasses, $180 Thinsulate boots, and $20 thermal socks.

"When you're comfortable and you know where all your gear is, it makes you a better fighter," says Lt. Tucker Knie, an Army Ranger perusing custom ammo pouches and techno-fiber socks. "You don't want to be rummaging around in your pocket during a firefight."

Aging Air Force Wants Big Bucks Fix

February 19, 2008
Aging Air Force Wants Big Bucks Fix

WASHINGTON -- Air Force officials are warning that unless their budget is increased dramatically, and soon, the military's high-flying branch won't dominate the skies as it has for decades.

An extra $20 billion each year over the next five _ beginning with an Air Force budget of about $137 billion in 2009 instead of the $117 billion proposed by the Bush administration _ would solve that problem, according to Selva and other senior Air Force officers.

US Military Can't Repond to New Crisis

February 9, 2008
US Military Can't Repond to New Crisis

WASHINGTON - A classified Pentagon assessment concludes that long battlefield tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with persistent terrorist activity and other threats, have prevented the U.S. military from improving its ability to respond to any new crisis, The Associated Press has learned.

Despite security gains in Iraq, there is still a "significant" risk that the strained U.S. military cannot quickly and fully respond to another outbreak elsewhere in the world, according to the report.

Last year the Pentagon raised that threat risk from "moderate" to
"significant." This year, the report will maintain that "significant" risk level — pointing to the U.S. military's ongoing struggle against a stubborn insurgency in Iraq and its lead role in the NATO-led war in Afghanistan.

Army Suicides Up As Much As 20 Percent

January 31, 2008
Army Suicides Up As Much As 20 Percent

WASHINGTON - As many as 121 Army soldiers committed suicide in 2007, a jump of some 20 percent over the year before, officials said Thursday.

The rise comes despite numerous efforts to improve the mental health of a force stressed by a longer-than-expected war in Iraq and the most deadly year yet in the now six-year-old conflict in Afghanistan.

Internal briefing papers prepared by the Army's psychiatry consultant early this month show there were 89 confirmed suicides last year and 32 deaths that are suspected suicides and still under investigation.

Army Effort to Retain Captains Falls Short of Goal

January 26, 2008
Army Effort to Retain Captains Falls Short of Goal

WASHINGTON -- An expensive Army effort to retain young officers with big cash bonuses has fallen short of its target, underscoring the military's continuing struggle to recruit and keep troops.

The program persuaded 11,933 captains to commit to additional Army service, short of the 14,184 goal. The military will pay out more than $349 million in bonuses to the officers who took the incentives.

All told, 67.6% of those eligible for the program -- which offered officers cash bonuses of as much as $35,000, the ability to choose their next assignment or military-funded graduate school -- agreed to serve an additional one to three years in the Army. The military had hoped that 80.5% of the eligible captains would extend their time in the Army.

New Joint Chiefs chairman gets blunt questions from Army captains about strain of Iraq service

October 23, 2007

New Joint Chiefs chairman gets blunt questions from Army captains about strain of Iraq service

FORT SILL, Okla. (AP) Army captains who represent the military's future pelted the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with blunt questions Tuesday about the strain of long war deployments.

At times technical and other times very personal, the officers reflected the worries of a military struggling to fight two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without exhausting troops, alienating their families or driving soldiers away.

General Casey: Army can not respond to another conflict

September 27, 2007
General Casey: Army can not respond to another conflict

WASHINGTON - The Army's top officer, General George Casey, told Congress yesterday that his branch of the military has been stretched so thin by the war in Iraq that it can not adequately respond to another conflict - one of the strongest warnings yet from a military leader that repeated deployments to war zones in the Middle East have hamstrung the military's ability to deter future aggression.

In his first appearance as Army chief of staff, Casey told the House Armed Services Committee that the Army is "out of balance" and "the current demand for our forces exceeds the sustainable supply. We are consumed with meeting the demands of the current fight and are unable to provide ready forces as rapidly as necessary for other potential contingencies."

Army's middle ranks are dwindling

July 16, 2007
Army's middle ranks are dwindling

More than five years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan have put the all-volunteer Army under tremendous strain. Time at home is supposed to be longer than time at war — two years to one. Instead, deployments are longer than respites — 15 months versus a year. And there is little or no R&R in combat.

By giving soldiers incentives to stay, the Army has met and even exceeded retention goals. Housing and family services have been improved. Signing bonuses have soared.

Rigby and other military experts recall the aftermath of Vietnam, when the NCO corps was drastically reduced by combat deaths and permanent injury.

"That significantly contributed to the downfall or the hollowness of the Army in the post-Vietnam era. If you don't have a strong NCO corps, you don't have a strong Army," said Timothy Muchmore, a former soldier who is now the civilian deputy director of the Army's Quadrennial Defense Review, a comprehensive examination of national defense strategy, plans and programs.

CBS: Military Concerned It Can't Respond to Crisis

June 11, 2007
CBS: Military Concerned It Can't Respond to Crisis

CBS News reported Sunday that the final members of the 82nd Airborne are about to leave Fort Bragg for Iraq, saying, "This is only going to be to be the second time since World War II that the entire 82nd Airborne will be deployed overseas. Just one more sign of how thinly stretched the Army is right now."

The report continues, "Commanders say if an emergency happened elsewhere in the world, they could draw ground troops from Iraq and units recuperating at bases back in the U.S. But it won't be easy" because neither equipment nor personnel on leave would be immediately available. As a result, there are concerns about the ability of the military to respond to a crisis.

Reenlistment rate for mid-grade soldiers dropped 12%

May 2, 2007
Reenlistment rate for mid-grade soldiers dropped 12%

The Army has seen the reenlistment rate of mid-grade enlisted soldiers drop 12 percentage points, from 96 percent during the first quarter of 2005 to a low of 84 percent for the first quarter of 2007, according to Pentagon data. As of March, the Army is as much as 10 percentage points behind where it was in retaining mid-grade soldiers at that time in 2005 and 2006. (The overall retention goal for mid-grade soldiers in fiscal year 2006 was about 25,000.)

Although Army officials say they will make their overall retention goals by the end of the fiscal year – in September – the decline means this will be the hardest year so far when it comes to keeping soldiers in uniform since the war in Iraq began.

How bad the problem is depends on whom you ask. To some, the trend is further proof that the war in Iraq has broken the back of the Army. Others believe it remains only an ominous warning light on the Army's collective dashboard but does not mean there is a crisis.

America's Broken-Down Army

April 5, 2007
America's Broken-Down Army

"The readiness of the Army's ground forces is as bad as it was right after Vietnam," Murtha tells TIME. Even Colin Powell—a retired Army general, onetime Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Bush's first Secretary of State—acknowledges that after spending nearly six years fighting a small war in Afghanistan and four years waging a medium-size war in Iraq, the service whose uniform he wore for 35 years is on the ropes. "The active Army," Powell said in December, "is about broken."

New Defense Secretary Robert Gates concedes there are readiness problems. He told Congress March 29 that next year's proposed $625 billion defense budget—the highest, adjusted for inflation, since World War II—will "make a good start at addressing the readiness" issues plaguing the Army. His first concern before taking the post in December was his suspicion "that our ground forces weren't large enough," and he has urged troop hikes starting next year.

McCaffrey, the retired general, says the Joint Chiefs are responsible for the state of today's Army. They rubber-stamped Rumsfeld's plan to build a smaller, more agile force while fighting two wars. McCaffrey, a Vietnam veteran, recalls the scolding lesson of Dereliction of Duty. That 1997 book explained how the Vietnam-era Joint Chiefs' timidity in challenging Defense Secretary Robert McNamara allowed the U.S. to slide into that war. Written by H.R. McMaster, an Army colonel now in Iraq, the book has been required reading for many military officers. "Should there be a Dereliction of Duty II?" McCaffrey wonders aloud. "The answer is, Yes, of course."