April 10, 2007 — ABC News has learned the Pentagon is considering extending the tours of duty for every active duty soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Forget small extensions and trickles of national guard troops. Under the proposal, deployments for active duty soldiers would be extended from the current 12 months to 15 months. Senior Defense Department officials say the idea has already been presented to Defense Secretary Gates. A decision is expected as early as this week.
"These soldiers have paid the price for this policy for 4 years, now they are being given an additional burden to bear and it will be a cause of concern for the soldiers and even more so for the families," says retired general William Nash.
The stress on the Army has been compounded by the surge of additional forces the president announced in January, a surge Iraq commander David Petreaus wants to extend. Senior officials tell ABC News there is now consensus at the Pentagon and the White House that Petreaus is right, the surge needs to be extended — until at least the end of the year.
Defense officials say extending the surge is simply impossible to do without either extending the tours of those troops already there, or dramatically cutting the time soldiers spend back at home.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
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