Casey: 12-month Iraq tours possible by summer

[unhappycamper]

Casey: 12-month Iraq tours possible by summer
By Anne Flaherty - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Feb 26, 2008 16:47:22 EST

WASHINGTON — The Army’s top general said Tuesday he wants to reduce combat tours for soldiers in Iraq from 15 months to 12 months later this year — and hopes that sticks.

Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, told a Senate panel he would not embrace going back to the longer tours even if President Bush decided to suspend troop reductions for the second half of the year. The Army is under serious strain from years of war-fighting, he testified, and must reduce the length of combat tours as soon as possible.

“The cumulative effects of the last six-plus years at war have left our Army out of balance, consumed by the current fight and unable to do the things we know we need to do to properly sustain our all-volunteer force and restore our flexibility for an uncertain future,” Casey said.

Casey, who was the top U.S. commander in Iraq before taking the chief of staff job last spring, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that cutting the time soldiers spend in combat is an integral part of reducing the stress on the force.

He said he anticipates the service can cut combat tours from 15 months to 12 months this summer, as long as the president reduces the number of active-duty Army brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan to 15 units by July, as planned.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_armystrain_022608/