Veterans for America urges Petraeus not to deploy 82nd Airborne Brigade Again

Veterans for America applauds General David H. Petraeus for stating today in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee that he will probably recommend this fall that the U.S. military reduce its troop presence in Iraq by an additional Army Brigade Combat Team.

Veterans for America is deeply concerned about the stress placed on our Army’s frontline units, and we urge General Petraeus not to again deploy the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division, which is based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced that the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division, which has already been deployed three times since September 11, 2001, will be deployed again this fall, making it one of a handful of BCT’s that will have seen four tours.

During its last Iraq deployment which was extended to 15 months, the 3rd BCT suffered the highest fatalities of any unit in the 82nd Airborne Division; according to VFA research, the 3rd BCT lost 49 Soldiers during its 15-month long deployment to Iraq.

According to Bobby Muller, President of Veterans for America, “We must start giving our troops rest. The churning of our frontline units has had an incredible negative impact on the health of our troops. We stand posed to irrevocably damage the lives of those who deploy multiple times if we don’t allow them time to heal.”

The members of the 3rd BCT — 70 to 80% of whom have already been deployed to Iraq — deserve more time at home to reconnect with family and friends, prepare for other contingencies and, most importantly, they deserve time to heal.

VETERANS FOR AMERICA RELEASES TWO REPORTS ON THE STATE OF THE ARMY’S FRONTLINE UNITS

Last month, Veterans for America’s Wounded Warrior Outreach Program released two first-of-their-kind reports that examine the toll that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken on the frontline units of our active-Army and our National Guard.

VFA’s Wounded Warrior Outreach Program has chronicled the experiences of the units of the U.S. Army, on a state-by-state basis, that have been among our nation’s most heavily used in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. These reports aggregate information on each frontline unit’s number of deployments, intensity of combat, and dwell time.

These reports make clear that the Soldiers who have seen the most combat are the ones who are deployed repeatedly. Unfortunately, Department of Defense studies prove that with each deployment Soldiers are 60% more likely to develop severe post-combat mental health problems.

“When elected representatives talk about the ‘readiness’ of the military, they must also talk about the health of our troops,” said Bobby Muller, President of VFA. “We cannot consider our military ‘ready’ while we have troops on their third, fourth, and fifth tours. They are beginning to unravel.”

Veterans for America calls on Congress to speak out against pausing the withdrawal of troops.

Click here for more information on our Wounded Warrior Outreach Program.

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