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Army May Shorten Tours in Iraq and Afghanistan

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Times Staff Writer

Anticipating progress toward curbing insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army may cut in half the yearlong tours of duty in the two nations that have strained an already stretched service, a senior Army general said Thursday.

Top Army strategists have largely ruled out shortening combat duty since Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld asked the heads of the military services on June 14 to reexamine their tours of duty.

But some Pentagon officials see new hope for shorter tours, of nine or even six months, which according to Army polls is favored by soldiers and families.

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“What I would tell you is that we think that multiple shorter tours is the ideal way to go, ultimately,” Lt. Gen. Franklin L. Hagenbeck, the Army’s head of personnel, told reporters at the Pentagon.

Defense officials said several factors have combined to make shorter combat stints possible.

Army Gen. George W. Casey, the senior U.S. commander in Iraq, and other top generals expect within a year what Casey has called “fairly substantial reductions” from the 142,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. The Army is boosting the number of combat units, from 33 brigade combat teams of 3,000 to 5,000 each to 43. And because combat experience has grown since fighting began in Afghanistan in 2001 -- half of the soldiers in the 3rd Infantry Division, which is now deployed in Iraq, have served previously there or in Afghanistan -- Army strategists expect troops to require less acclimation to the two combat zones.

The prospect of shortened tours signals growing optimism among senior Army officials. As recently as October, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker ruled out shorter tours in fiscal 2005, which ends Sept. 30. In February, congressional opposition led the Army to drop a plan to increase the time reservists can spend on active duty deployments, currently limited to two years.

Rumsfeld would have to approve the reduced tours, which would depend on improved Iraqi troop training and security there. So far, he has deferred to the service chiefs on the length of combat tours.

At the time of the Jan. 30 election in Iraq, there were approximately 150,000 U.S. troops there. That number is expected to drop within months to 138,000. The U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan is expected to drop from 19,000 to just below 17,000 over the same period.

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Army officials hope that shorter combat tours will improve recruiting and retention. The service has missed recent recruiting targets, particularly for the National Guard and Army Reserve.

Typically, the Marine combat tour is seven months, the Air Force tour is three months, and the Navy’s is six months.

Despite the complaints about the length of combat tours, the Army has slightly exceeded its goals for retaining active duty soldiers.

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