Sources: Pentagon to stop forced tour extension

[babylonsister]

Source: AP

Sources: Pentagon to stop forced tour extension


PAULINE JELINEK AND KIMBERLY HEFLING | March 18, 2009 12:55 PM EST | AP


WASHINGTON — The Army will substantially reduce use of the unpopular practice of holding troops beyond their enlistment dates and will pay $500 to those still forced to stay in the service, defense and congressional officials said Wednesday.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates was expected to announce later Wednesday that he had approved the plan for cutting the use of so-called "stop loss" except in extraordinary circumstances, The Associated Press has learned.

Some critics have called "stop-loss" a backdoor draft because it keeps troops in the military beyond their retirement or re-enlistment dates. But the military has said it's a necessary tool to keep unit cohesion in times of war.


Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20090318/army-tours/

[No Elephants]

1. This sounds very positive. Either we have an all volunteer army or we need to reinstate

the draft, as Rangel argues. Enough back door draft. That's more like indentured servitude.

[noamnety]

2. $16 a day extra to serve in a war zone against your will.

big spenders.

[Jefferson23]

3. Good news here.

[DLnyc]

4. Some justice for some of the less powerful members of our society.

A nice piece of good news.

[Lisa0825]

5. K&R

I duped you.... I only searched for "stop-loss" in the titles! LOL

[babylonsister]

6. Hi, Lisa!

Good news, isn't it. Now, if we just get them all home.

[gratuitous]

7. We can now call it a "forced" tour extension?

It's no longer fashionable to hide this behind the obfuscatory locution of "stop-loss"?

Oh, it's just Huffington. I wonder if the craven media will start calling it what it is, and quit hiding one of America's greatest shames behind a meaningless designation?

[Ohio Joe]

8. Army to Stop Extending Tours Beyond Service Obligations

Source: Washington Post

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced today that the Army will virtually eliminate the unpopular practice of "stop loss" -- or mandating that soldiers stay in the Army beyond their service obligation -- by March 2011 and will offer extra pay to soldiers whose service is extended under the policy.

About 13,000 soldiers are serving in the Army under the stop-loss policy, nearly double the number of two years ago. Gates said the goal is to reduce that number by 50 percent by June 2010 and to bring it down to scores or less by March 2011.

"I felt particularly in these numbers that it was breaking faith" to keep soldiers in the service after their end date comes up, Gates said. "To hold them against their will is just not the right thing to do," he said at a Pentagon press conference.

To achieve that, the Army Reserve will no longer mobilize units under stop-loss policy beginning in August, the Army National Guard in September, and the active duty Army by January 2010.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/18/AR2009031802504.html

---

Nice!

[pleah]

9. About fucking time.

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. Kick and F****ng REC

[skorpo]

11. It's about time. N/T

[eppur_se_muova]

12. Pentagon to phase out unpopular 'stop-loss' program (CNN)

By Adam Levine
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The military will phase out its "stop-loss" program, the contentious practice of holding troops beyond the end of their enlistments, for all but extraordinary situations, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Wednesday.

Instead, the military will use incentives programs to encourage personnel to extend their service.

Starting this month, the department will provide "special compensation of $500 per month" to troops whose tour has been extended, Gates said. "This special compensation will be applied retroactively to October 1, 2008, the date when Congress first made it available."

In a news release, the Defense Department added that "until the department is able to eliminate stop loss altogether, this payment will serve as an interim measure to help mitigate its effects."
***
more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/18/pentagon.stoploss.ending/index.html

[Pharlo]

13. Maybe I'm just cynical...

but the timing of this announcement about the government suddenly meeting it's "contractual obligations" to US military personnel is certainly fortuitous.