National Guard units face possible second tours in Iraq

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon is developing plans that for the first time would send entire National Guard combat brigades back to Iraq for a second tour, the Guard's top general said in the latest sign of how thinly stretched the military has become.
...
The move -- which could include brigades from North Carolina, Florida, Arkansas and Indiana -- would force the Pentagon to make the first large-scale departure from its previous decision not to deploy reserves for more than a cumulative 24 months in Iraq.

For some units, a second tour would mean they would likely exceed that two-year maximum. The planning was described by Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, who commands the Guard, in an Associated Press interview this week.

In a related move, the Pentagon is preparing to release a list of active units -- and perhaps reserves as well -- scheduled to go to Iraq that would largely maintain the current level of forces there over the next two years, another senior defense official said on Thursday. There are about 152,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

http://wvgazette.com/section/APNews/News/ap0715n

[saigon68]

1. "BRING EM ON" shouted the AWOL CHIMPANZEE

[I_Make_Mistakes]

2. If true, those basturds, waited till after the elections, look at the

states involved. I hope we get out of the main operations in Iraq soon and may God help us!

[wellst0nev0ter]

3. "B-But John Kerry Said Soldiers Are Stoopid!"

If that Minnesota National Guard unit who posed for that stupid picture is among those serving the second tour, then I can't help feeling some shadenfreude. But otherwise, this is a disaster.

[NYC]

4. 152,000.

I remember when it was around 130,000, and I remember reading many times that the troops would be reduced.

[FyurFly]

5. Bring them home now! n/t

[AndyTiedye]

6. Hope They Don't Get Any Hurricanes in Florida Next Year

Hope Cape Hatteras doesn't get hit either.

Their National Guard units will be in Iraq next hurricane season.

[rodeodance]

7. Nat'l Guard units face 2nd tours in Iraq

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061111/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/national_guard_iraq

Nat'l Guard units face 2nd tours in Iraq

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 14 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The nation's citizen soldiers, already strained by long tours in
Iraq and
Afghanistan, could be tapped again under new plans being developed by the
Pentagon.


National Guard combat brigades that have already served in Iraq may be called for a second tour, likely breaking the 24-month deployment limit initially set by the Pentagon, the Guard's top general said.

While active-duty soldiers and smaller Guard units and members have returned to Iraq for multiple tours, the new plans would, for the first time, send entire Guard combat brigades back to the battlefront. Brigades generally have about 3,500 troops.

The move — which could include brigades from Arkansas, Florida, Indiana and North Carolina — would force the Pentagon to make the first large-scale departure from its previous decision not to deploy reserves for more than a cumulative 24 months in Iraq.

For some units, a second tour would mean they would likely exceed that two-year maximum. The planning was described by Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, who commands the Guard, in an Associated Press interview this week.

[rodeodance]

8. also---new active duty lists for Irag being sent out.

.....In a related move, the Pentagon is preparing to release a list of active units — and perhaps reserves as well — scheduled to go to Iraq that would largely maintain the current level of forces there over the next two years, another senior defense official said Thursday. There are about 152,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

That official requested anonymity because the plan has not been made public.

The Pentagon routinely notifies units to prepare for deployment, knowing it is easier to cancel a move overseas than to suddenly make such a large troop movement.

It was not clear whether this week's resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld would affect deployment plans.
President Bush has selected former
CIA chief Robert Gates, who has criticized U.S. policy in Iraq, to replace Rumsfeld, but he has not yet been confirmed by the Senate.

"We are doing contingency planning for one or two (units), and we have contingency plans for more than two if necessary," Blum said Wednesday. The North Carolina brigade, he said, is being considered since it was one of the first to go to Iraq after the war began in 2003.

[Kagemusha]

11. That's the deployment levels they say will break the Army, right?

Just lovely.

[soothsayer]

9. Oh the irony---it's Veteran's Day! Nice.

[rodeodance]

10. Under the authority by which Bush ordered a call-up of the Guard and Reserve after the Sept. 11,

....Under the authority by which Bush ordered a call-up of the Guard and Reserve after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, troops could be mobilized an unlimited number of times as long as each mobilization is no longer than 24 consecutive months.

Until now, Pentagon officials have interpreted that as 24 cumulative months.

While the ultimate goal for the National Guard is to deploy one year overseas and spend six years at home, Blum said current demands could force soldiers to deploy as often as one year every three or four years.

Blum said he believes that Guard combat brigades are prepared and willing to make a second trip to Iraq if needed.