Memories...Remember When John McCain Killed Dwell Time

As McCain speaks tonight at the Naval Academy I doubt he will mention his part in "leading the charge" against providing our troops proper rest and recuperation. But it is worth recounting.

Last fall it looked like the two senators from Virginia, Republican John Warner and Democrat Jim Webb, had carved out a bi-partisan agreement to ensure that our troops got proper time to rest, recover, and train before being sent back to Iraq. The proposed "dwell time" amendment would require that deployments stick to Army and Marine Corps standards of at least one month at home for one month deployed. With Warner on board it looked like the amendment would reach 60 votes to pass the Senate. Yet, in swept John McCain who stunned the Senate by getting Warner to offer with him a watered down toothless version that would reflect the "sense" of the Senate rather than its "will," meaning it would do nothing to address the issue. The straight talk express indeed. [See the video of McCain killing dwell time and Webb's response.]

Dwell time has been, as it should be, mostly discussed in moral terms -  that a country should both honor its commitment to those putting their lives on the line and that we must seek to minimize the strain placed on military families that have already gone through so much. But less mentioned are the strategic national security implications of shortening dwell time. In short, by accelerating and extending deployments and infringing upon dwell time for our troops, we are breaking the ground forces and weakening the military strength of this country.

The Post summarizes testimony on Tuesday from the Army and Marines:

Senior Army and Marine Corps leaders said yesterday that the increase of more than 30,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has put unsustainable levels of stress on U.S. ground forces and has put their readiness to fight other conflicts at the lowest level in years.

General Cody, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, said the heavy deployments are not just inflicting "incredible stress" on soldiers and families but that they pose "a significant risk" to the nation's all-volunteer military.

Cody added that the surge has depleted all of the Army's reserves meaning that we cannot respond to anything else.  We are totally vulnerable.

"When the five-brigade surge went in . . . that took all the stroke out of the shock absorbers for the United States Army," Cody testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee's readiness panel.

"I've never seen our lack of strategic depth be where it is today," said Cody, who has been the senior Army official in charge of operations and readiness for the past six years and plans to retire this summer... Cody said that the Army no longer has fully ready combat brigades on standby should a threat or conflict occur. The nation needs an airborne brigade, a heavy brigade and a Stryker brigade ready for "full-spectrum operations," Cody said, "and we don't have that today."

The Marine Corps' ability to train for potential conflicts has been "significantly degraded," said Gen. Robert Magnus, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps.

"There has been little, if any, change of the stress or tempo for our forces," he said, calling the current pace of operations "unsustainable." The Marine Corps is "basically in two boats (Iraq and Afghanistan) at the same time," he said.

...The testimony reflects the tension between the wartime priorities of U.S. commanders in Iraq such as Petraeus and the heads of military services responsible for the health and preparedness of the forces.

General Cody pointed out that the damage was not easily repaired even if proper dwell time was reestablished:

He said that even if five brigades are pulled out of Iraq by July, as planned, it would take some time before the Army could return to 12-month tours for soldiers.

"Where we need to be with this force is no more than 12 months on the ground and 24 months back," Cody said.

Unfortunately, "where we need to be with this force" won't happen if John McCain has his way. 

Comments

[MajorKong]

Active duty personnel expect to spend a lot of time on deployments. However, it's a different story with the National Guard. The Guard is not structured for multiple recurring deployments of this length. They've been trying to fight this war on the cheap and they're overextending the National Guard rather than increasing the size of the active duty force.

[ddfiedler]

When did American public servants and soldiers become such a gaggle of weak-kneed whiners? I am a registered democrat. I am also a veteran of Kosovo and Iraq. I have firsthand experience with stop-loss. But you know what--that's what is involved in enlisting in a volunteer military. The military and the government can't make decisions about an ongoing war on the basis of the comfort and convenience of the soldiers. The war was entirely misconceived and never should have been waged, but that doesn't change the fact that we are in it now, and therefore the military has to do what needs to be done. Someone commented on WWII practice above: let me tell you, those rotations away from the front were not back stateside, and the rear echelons were nothing so nice as what soldiers have in Iraq, and those guys generally stayed in theater for the duration of the war. People talk about the toll it takes on military families--I am convinced that the deployments are less at fault than the bankrupt marital values of so many couples today. What we need is not to pamper our volunteer soldiers but rather a revaluation of values, a revival of commitment, dedication, loyalty and genuine companionship. And we could add to that a renaissance of good citizenship, one not based on the pleasure principle where everyone wants things easy and comfortable. The founding fathers would be ashamed of the selfish citizens we have become...

[Boringat]

The suggestion to start manufacture and shipment of "double" body-bags to Iraq as a cost-saving move should be repugnant to any patriotic American.

[grailknight]

Being a fly boy isn't the same as being a grunt. McCain's understanding of military operations are highly overrated. In World War II the army estimated that a man's effectiveness in combat is ninety days. In order to achieve maximum effectiveness, troops would be rotated out from the front and they could rely on being replaced by truly fresh troops before the next campaign.That was a war with clear objectives. This occupation has no clear political or military objective, nor can the troops rely on relief from fresh replacements. With each redeployment into the uncertain environment that Iraq has become will make it more difficult for troops to survive unless all they do is hunker down.
The cogent argument for McCain is then if we're to spend a century in Iraq, then he better be prepared to call for a draft.

[1pappy]

With his depth of background in military operations, I am sure McCain understands fully the problems inherant with lack of "dwell" time. However during time of need American soldiers have always been extended on deployment. Yes the Army and Marine Corps are being over tasked and are suffering a lack of readiness for other contingencies.
The cogent arguement is to take money from the Navy and Air Force and expand the size of the ground services. Of course civilian politics would never allow this.
Say what you will about the merits of the war but don't hide your dislike for that war behind a false concern about the length troop deployments.

[PioneerKing]

Are you just finding out about the republicans and Sen. McCain's hypocrisy? The republicans are supposed to be the party that supports the troops. What a fairy tale.

[ArchAngel]

PioneerKing you are the consummate insider. Do us all a favor and write an exposing book about the powerful. And yes, those powerful would crucify you - the cost of speaking truth to power.

[Berettasskeeter]

hahahahah. What you neglect to mention is that this rule was attempted not to try to help our GI's recover from the stresses of combat. It was attempted to try to pull an end run around the President's ability to prosecute the war effort by halving, or cutting even more by two-thirds, the troop level available for the President. I'd be willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that a good number of you would be calling for those troops to be used in Darfur as soon as they were available, rested or not.
Please stop trying to spin this.
Semper fi

[rinpochet]

Not a spin. The Republicans are destroying the volunteer army with the unsustainable tours of duty and not giving them the standard dwell time. If we support our troops it should be real support and not just a sound bite.

[MidwestBlue]

Wait a minute. You wrote "Semper Fi" (by the way, you capitalize "fi"). Are you a Marine? And you are against "dwell time" for fellow active duty servicemen and women? Something doesn't pass the smell test here.
And Marine or not..."the President's ability to prosecute the war"... what ability is that?

[research]

Berett ass keeter is Blackwater.

[AngerAndDetermination]

When the President is Barack Obama, you know that this Semper Phony guy is going to be crowing about how the military personnel are being "endangered" by his liberalism.

[MajorKong]

Note how many times he mentions "The President" in this post. To the conservatives it's not about the war, it's not about the troops, it's really all about Bush.