Gates says stop loss to end for all but extreme cases

[unhappycamper]

Gates says stop loss to end for all but extreme cases
By Pauline Jelinek and Kimberly Hefling, The Associated Press
Mideast edition, Thursday, March 19, 2009

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army plans to eliminate the wide use of stop loss by March 2011 and compensate those who are stop-lossed, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.

“Effective this month, the department will provide special compensation, of $500 per month to soldiers who have been stop-lossed,” Gates said at a news conference. “This special compensation will be applied retroactively to Oct. 1, 2008, the date when Congress first made it available.”

“Our goal is to cut the number of those stop-lossed by 50 percent by June 2010, and to eliminate the regular use of stop loss across the entire Army by March 2011,” Gates said.

The Defense Department will retain the ability to use stop loss in emergency situations, he said.

As of Jan. 31, there are 13, 217 soldiers under stop loss — 7,307 in the Active Component; 4,458 in the Army National Guard; and 1,452 in the Army Reserve, said Army spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61432

[Rhiannon12866]

1. K&R! I heard this on Rachel Maddow last night and I actually applauded!

This is awesome news, far past time, but still an encouraging step in the right direction. Thanks so much for posting this very important article... :applause:

Rhiannon:hi: