Troops in Europe say long U.S. stay in Iraq may thin force

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=31100


The report that the Army is prepared to keep the same troop levels in Iraq for the next four years if necessary doesn’t make life easier for people like Jose Torrez.

A first sergeant with the Darmstadt, Germany-based 440th Signal Battalion, Torrez is charged with overseeing about 90 soldiers in his company, which includes convincing them to re-enlist when their time is up.

That job just got more difficult, he said, after Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army’s chief of staff, said in an interview with The Associated Press that the Army is planning for the possibility that it may have to keep its current troop strength until 2009. That means soldiers could experience the same rigorous deployment schedules for years to come.

“It’s going to be tough, trying to keep these guys in,” Torrez said, adding that Schoomaker’s comments did not come as a surprise to him. “But we do the best we can. We try to sell it.”

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One soldier on plans for 4 more years in Iraq. “That’s a lot of stop loss that’ll be going on then,” Tatum said.