Stopping the Stop-Loss: The "Surge" You Might Have Missed

Today I want to use my space to share an important piece written by Iraq War Veteran Ray Kimball, who now serves as an instructor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. For the past three years, the Department of Defense has ordered many members of our all-volunteer military to remain in service long past the end of their contracts under a policy known as "Stop Loss". The piece below is a great explanation of what the policy has meant, and why it needs to change. Thanks for reading. -- Paul

From the non-partisan Congressional newspaper The Hill:

"Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is ordering military service chiefs to reduce the use of a controversial policy intended to keep troops in war zones beyond the end of their original commitments, according to a document obtained by The Hill. In a memo sent to the service chiefs, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and undersecretaries of defense, Gates asked to see plans to minimize the use of the so-called stop-loss policy for active duty and reserve components by the end of next month. Gates's directive comes at a time when the White House's plan to increase the number of troops in Iraq by 21,500 is coming under intense criticism on both sides of the aisle, in part because it would extend the tours of duty of troops already on the ground and trigger stop-loss orders."

Read the entire article here.

If it goes through, this will be an exceptionally good piece of news for our volunteer military. It has been a continuing disgrace that hundreds of volunteers were forced to serve beyond their enlistment contracts. Many of the concerns that stop-loss was intended to address have already been addressed by unit manning in brigade combat teams (though, regrettably, not in their supporting units.)

Let me be clear: I believe that stop-loss and stop-movement are important short-term tools for the DoD leadership, and should remain available. When contingencies arise that require large numbers of troops quickly, the Secretary of Defense should have the power to retain critical people for short periods of time. I personally felt the impact of this when I was in command. Two months before we deployed to Kuwait for what would become Operation Iraqi Freedom, I lost my best aviation electronics repairman to another assignment and my best engine repairer to the civilian world. All of the available evidence now suggests that the war plans for OIF were more or less finalized, and almost all of the key units identified. Because then-Secretary Rumsfeld chose not to use his power at that time, I lost those two critical individuals 90 days before going into combat. I was very lucky that those losses didn't become critical.

But we are well beyond the period of transient loss now. This campaign has been ongoing for long enough that senior leaders who are willing to face the harsh light of reality should be able to plan and sequence people so that they are not involuntarily retained beyond their desired period of service. Secretary Gates' action here is long overdue, and should be accompanied by a few add-ons:

Every unit should be unit manned, not just combat arms units. Saying that supporters can't manage a flow of people is simply lazy personnel management, and ignores the large of amount of civilian and contract maintenance that already performs a large percentage of our long-term maintenance and support (as opposed to day-to-day operations).

Any soldiers involuntarily extended in the short-term as I noted above should be paid a bonus, depending on their specialty. The PERSTEMPO model, currently suspended by executive order, provides a possible starting point.
A soldier whose tour will expire during a scheduled deployment should be given the option to re-enlist prior to deployment while accruing all of the bonuses and special pays he/she would have received in the zone (e.g. tax-free bonus). Those soldiers in this category who choose not to re-enlist prior to deployment should be barred from re-enlistment and given honorable discharges.

The troops serving today are the most professional force we've ever had. Let's treat them like the dedicated heroes they are, and honor our contract with them. Well done, Secretary Gates.