These men and women will do their duty but that doesn't take away from the fact that this should not have happened to them on such short notice. At the Senate Armed Services hearing the other day I believe it was Gen Pace who said the decision was made after days of consultation among all the high level players involved. The chain of command knew the disruptions it would cause. It just points out how stretched the military is.
I've said it before but the dems are licking their chops over this for November.
If you are suggesting a bigger Military, then voting Democrat is NOT the solution.
This is war and our spouses are Soldiers. I knew before they deployed that this could happen, it's just a shame that we've come to rely on a 12 month tour and that our families were not adequately prepared last year for the possibility of extension, no matter how remote the possiblity. The military does a great job making sure we know the KIA and WIA process, and thank God the vast majority of us will never have to endure this process personally, but we are prepared for it just in case. Our families should have also been prepared for the possiblity of an extension, even though it was a far off notion last year, it's always a possiblity. Wives looked at me like I was insane when I mentioned that I was emotionally prepared for a 14-18 month deployment.
But like I said, this is war. We need to be grateful that our Soldiers aren't deployed indefinitely like they had been in WWII.
Even though the troops were initially pissed off, they are now more determined than ever to get to Baghdad and take care of business. They are the best of the best. It only makes sense to send in seasoned troops that have a great success record with few casualties incurred. Our Stryker Soldiers will mop up the terrorists in Baghdad, just like they have done in Mosul. We've got solid leadership and seasoned Soldiers. Moral is great. Of course they are all dissapointed in not coming home, as we are not having them come home. Guess what? They aren't bank tellers or florists!
As far as the military being stretched thin, not so, as there are plenty of troops that have not been sent over to Iraq or Afghanistan. Yes, there are many that have seen multiple deployments, but that is the bad luck of the draw when going to a new assignment. Retention rates have never been higher as the Soldiers feel tremendous pride and a sense of accomplishment from doing the job that they've spent years training for. New recruits are still coming in and recruiters have been meeting their goals. Naysayers have pointed out that the Army has lowered it's recruitment standards, but they don't mention that these standards are very high. There is so much negativity and misinformation surrounding our military. The troops feel this from way over there, yet they are true professionals and are highly trained and well equipped.