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Odierno, Other Leaders Support 12-Month Army Deployments
by Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service03/05/2008
Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, who left the No. 2 coalition post in
“What we’re trying to do is get more time back between deployments,” Odierno said.
Troops now typically get a one-to-one balance between dwell time and deployments, returning from a 12- to 15-month deployment and heading back 12 to 15 months later, he noted. Ideally, the Army would like to see that changed to two-to-one: two years at home between one-year deployments.
“We’re not close to being there yet,” Odierno said. “But that’s the kind of metric I think we want to look at.”
More time between deployments would give soldiers and their families a welcome reprieve, but Odierno emphasized that dwell time doesn’t equate to a year of “sitting home every night.”
“You’re out training and doing a lot of other things” to prepare for the next deployment, he said. “That’s why we want to extend that time,” he said. “We’d like to have a bit more time to reintegrate units (and) to spend more time on our equipment.”
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced in April that the Army was extending all deployments for troops serving in the U.S. Central Command region. The move was critical, officials said, for the Army to be able to sustain 20 combat brigades in
Army Lt. Gen Carter F. Ham, operations director for the Joint Staff, shared Odierno’s and other defense leaders’ sentiments during a Feb. 25 Pentagon news conference. Getting the Army back to 12-month deployments “is a very, very high priority,” he said.
Ham said it’s premature to say that change will happen by July, to synchronize with the drawdown of surge forces in
Casey told the Senate Armed Services Committee late last month the cut in deployment times could come sometime in the July timeframe, after the Army reduces in
"If General Petraeus is able to execute the announced plan of getting to 15 brigades by July, it would be our goal at that point to return to 12 months," Casey said during his Feb. 28 testimony to Congress. "We believe it will still be possible, even with a pause, to go from… 15 months to 12 months."
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told military analysts Feb. 15 he supports such a move, noting that the military stands at a delicate balance between the mission and the health of the force.
“I’m anxious to get out of 15-month deployments as soon as I can and get it down to 12 months,” Mullen said. “Fifteen months is too long. Part of it for me was I was in the military during
Biographies:
Robert M. Gates
Gen. George W. Casey Jr., USA
Adm. Mike Mullen, USN
Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno
Lt. Gen. Carter F. Ham, USA
