Stop Loss

Wooster soldier involuntarily kept in Army under its controversial ’stop-loss’ program

Sabrina Eaton, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio)

WASHINGTON — Army Spc. Justin Sheeter of Wooster would like extra pay for the extra time he’s had to spend in Afghanistan fixing trucks for the 101st Airborne Divison.

Although his enlistment was supposed to end in February, the 22-year-old former All-Ohio defensive lineman instead became one of 120,000 soldiers since 2001 to be involuntarily kept in the Army through a controversial program called “stop-loss.” He’s rooting for Congress to pass legislation that would pay him extra for each month he’s forced to remain in the military. More…

Will Our Presidential Candidates Demand A Stop To “Stop-Loss”?

When men and women in our country join the military, we enter into a sacred contract with them that obliges us honor their willingness to serve and sacrifice – end of story.

One of the most egregious violations of this mutual trust is something called “stop loss” – a very disturbing practice by which our men and women in uniform are forced to continue to serve in the military, after they had expected that they could leave. More…

VFA Applauds Rep. Betty Sutton and the Stop-loss Compensation Act

Veterans for America (VFA) strongly applauds Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH) for introducing H.R. 6205, the Stop-loss Compensation Act, which requires that U.S. servicemembers whose tours of duty are involuntarily extended, commonly known as “stop-loss,” receive special pay for the duration of their extension.

More than 70,000 Soldiers have been stop-lossed since 2002. During the recent Iraq troop “surge,” the number of troops stop-lossed reached 12,235. Such orders harm the morale of our fighting men and women and are nothing more than a short-term crutch for maintaining force levels. As Admiral Michael G. Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently said “we need to move away from [stop-loss] as rapidly as we can.”

Of all the abuses borne by our servicemembers since the beginning of our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, excessive reliance on stop-loss is one of the most egregious. Involuntary service negates the promise of our all-volunteer military. By forcing tens of thousands of troops to stay in the military, we have broken the contract that our servicemembers willingly entered into with their country.

VFA applauds Rep. Sutton’s efforts to mitigate the burdens placed on our troops and their families by stop-loss orders. We encourage her colleagues in Congress to support this legislation.

U.S. Army’s ’stop-loss’ orders up dramatically over last year

Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times

The jump coincides with the extension of combat tours from 12 to 15 months.

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Stuck on stop-loss

Michelle Tan, Army Times (subscription required)

Army not expected to ease policy before fall 2009

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