(AP) It will be more than a year before the Army can end the unpopular practice of forcing soldiers to stay in the service beyond their retirement or re-enlistment dates, a top official said Monday.
Lt. Gen. James D. Thurman, deputy chief of staff for operations, said he hoped that wartime demand for troops will decline enough by around the fall of next year to end "stop-loss." He said there are more than 12,000 currently serving under the practice - an action that critics have called a "backdoor draft."
Thurman also said that as officials continue to increase the size of the Army, it could be possible by the fall of 2011 for troops to be home two years for every year they are deployed.
The two issues of stop-loss and long tours of duty have been among the Pentagon's most disliked practices among troops. Thousands have been forced to stay in the service beyond their contracts since the start of the global war on terrorism. And tours of duty were increased to 15 months from 12 months a year ago so the Army could come up with the extra forces President Bush ordered for the troop buildup in Iraq.
There's no shortage of Young Republicans who have NO deployments to Iraq. And that's really sad. There's no shortage of pro-war fuckheads who need to run off that extra forty pounds they added when "Mountain Dew" added that special line of energy drinks. So this "backdoor draft" isn't going to end any time soon, huh? Well, I guess we should think about ending the war then, right?
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