Less away, more stay
Michelle Tan, Army Times
BCTs are coming home and dwell time is growing — if the wars allow
The Army is poised to implement a plan that would bring home early 10 maneuver brigades now deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and cut deployments after Aug. 1 by three months, returning combat tours to 12-month rotations.
Senior Army officials caution that deployment lengths ultimately hinge on the needs of war commanders. However, if conditions permit, four currently deployed brigade combat teams will come home after 12 months under the new plan, which recently was briefed to top Army commanders.
Six of the other BCTs deployed in the fiscal year 2008 rotation would serve 13 to 14 months, while the remaining five BCTs will stay at the standard 15-month tours.
This plan, affecting BCTs deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in fiscal 2008, will be executed as long as conditions on the ground stay the same and the demand for troops from commanders on the battlefield does not increase, said Col. Edge Gibbons, chief of plans under the G-3/5/7 division at Forces Command.
Gibbons declined to specify which BCTs will serve the shorter tours, citing operational security. He said the decisions were made based on the type of brigade — light, heavy or Stryker — and the demand for those brigades in theater.
Not counting the five “surge” brigades, six of the BCTs currently deployed are light, or infantry; four are heavy and two are Stryker brigades, said Maj. Tom McCuin, an Army spokesman.
If the deployment plan is put in place, officials anticipate all units deploying on or after Aug. 1 will be able to return to 12-month tours, Gibbons said.
“If demand for forces doesn’t change, this may in fact happen, but the demand of the war fight will always drive [boots on the ground] and dwell,” he said.
The war-zone need for troops will be a key topic when Gen. David Petraeus, top commander in Iraq, briefs Congress on the progress of the war in March.
There are 17 BCTs currently in Iraq, and two in Afghanistan. By late summer, there will be only 13 BCTs in Iraq because six are scheduled to redeploy by then, while two others — 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division and 1st BCT, 4th Infantry Division — are to deploy this spring.
The plan to shorten Army deployments also means that beginning in fiscal 2009, eight BCTs will have 15 months or more at home, while seven BCTs will have 12 to 14 months of dwell time, Gibbons said. In fiscal 2010, 10 BCTs will have 15 months or more dwell time and five will have 13 to 14 months of dwell.
“This is what we’re working toward, a way to reduce [boots on the ground] and increase dwell for as many soldiers as possible,” Gibbons said. “Over time, assuming demand for forces doesn’t change, the [boots on the ground] stays at 12 and the dwell increases.”
Under the current, hectic operations tempo, soldiers generally are getting only about 12 months at home between deployments, a pace that has strained not just the soldiers, but their families, too.
Grow Army, shrink war tours
The marked reductions in terrorist and sectarian violence in Iraq in recent months have been credited to the surge of troops. In September, President Bush announced plans to bring 5,700 troops home by Christmas and a total of 21,500 troops by July.
With the return of 3rd BCT, 1st Cavalry Division, in December, the Army now has 127,000 soldiers in Iraq. That number includes 5,300 soldiers from the Army Reserve and 13,300 from the Army National Guard, McCuin said.
On Jan. 16, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey said the Army may begin moving to 12-month deployments this summer, a shift that would help reduce the strain on a force that has endured 15-month deployments, The Associated Press reported.
“His hope is that summer of 2008 he will be able to make a definitive announcement that we’re coming off 15 months,” Lt. Col. Gary Kolb, Casey’s spokesman, said, cautioning that “a lot of things can happen between now and the summer of 2008.”
If Casey makes an announcement during the summer about the return to 12-month rotations, Kolb explained, the first units affected by the shorter tours would be those scheduled to deploy after August.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced in April that active Army soldiers serving in the Central Command area of operations will serve no more than 15 months in theater and spend no less than 12 months at home.
The move was a “necessary interim step” that will remain in place until the force can revert to 12 months deployed and 12 months at home, with the ultimate goal of 12 months deployed and 24 months at home, Gates said during the April 11 briefing at the Pentagon.
“Without this action, we would have had to deploy five Army active-duty brigades sooner than the 12-months-at-home goal,” he said at the time. “I believe it is fair to all soldiers that all share the burden equally.”
Army officials have repeatedly stressed that they are doing all they can to ensure soldiers get enough rest and time at home. They also have acknowledged that the force is stretched, but they insist that the Army isn’t broken.
Meanwhile, the Army continues to grow the force, with a goal of 547,000 active Army troops by the end of fiscal 2010, two years sooner than originally planned.
The Army’s end strength as of Jan. 17 was about 523,000, said Maj. Anne Edgecomb, an Army spokeswoman.
When asked about the plan that’s in the works to cut current deployments, McCuin said Casey has wanted to return to 12-month tours for some time.
“But the ability to move to that schedule is dependent on both the demand for forces from theater and the available supply,” he said. “The chief has said for many months now that the demand currently is greater than the sustainable supply.”
The active Army has 43 BCTs and is building to 48, McCuin said.
The last of the new BCTs should be built in fiscal 2012 and be available by fiscal 2013, he said.
The Army may be reducing the number of BCTs in theater, but that doesn’t mean more troops aren’t being sent to the war zone, said Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.
“If you take a look at what’s happening in Iraq right now, yes, you see troops coming out, but they’re sending some more in,” he said. “They’re not combat brigades but they’ve got small numbers of troops filling the gaps.”
Korb said he favors a gradual but complete withdrawal of troops from Iraq, but he said Iraqi security forces aren’t ready to take control, and the Iraqi government does not appear to be seriously working on reconciliation and a plan for the future.
“In my view, unless you give [the Iraqis] a timetable, they’re not going to do what they’re supposed to do,” he said. “I think you need to set a date to get out completely because until you do, the Iraqi government will not step up. Right now they don’t feel the need to.”
The Army’s ability to carry out its plan for shorter deployments and longer dwell time rests on conditions on the ground, Gibbons emphasized.
“We’re continuing to work this as best we can for soldiers and trying to make things better for soldiers and families across the Army, but we’re always mindful we’ve got to meet the needs of the war fighters down range,” he said. “I think [this plan] is good. We’re still meeting the needs of the war fighters but we’re nibbling away at the edges of the 15-12 paradigm that we’re at.”
Staff writer Gina Cavallaro contributed to this report.
Brigades deployed
These 14 brigade combat teams are currently deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Two other BCTs are scheduled to deploy in the spring.
• 1st BCT, 3rd Infantry Division
• 4th BCT, 3rd ID
• 3rd BCT, 4th ID
• 1st BCT, 10th Mountain Division
• 4th BCT, 10th Mountain
• 2nd SBCT, 25th ID
• 1st BCT, 82nd Airborne Division
• 4th BCT, 82nd Airborne
• 1st BCT, 101st Airborne Division
• 2nd BCT, 101st Airborne
• 3rd BCT, 101st Airborne
• 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment
• 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment
• 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team
• 4th BCT, 82nd Airborne and the 173rd Airborne are serving in Afghanistan.
The five “surge” brigades in Iraq:
• 4th BCT, 1st ID
• 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd ID
• 2nd BCT, 3rd ID
• 3rd BCT, 3rd ID
• 2nd BCT, 82nd Airborne