It has been six months approximately since the new Secretary of Defense and DOD has instituted the new 15 months in and 12 months of dwell time policy. John Vandiver of Stars and Stripes reports the story from Baumholder, Germany. The company in question is Company A of the 1st of the 6th Infantry Regiment. They fall under 2nd BCT, 1st AD. At issue is whether or not a singular company that deployed longer than the rest of their Brigade is required to get the same year of dwell time that the full Brigade received. So much for policy.
Bruce Anderson, a USAREUR spokesman said:
"The company is part of a brigade combat team put on order" to deploy, so the company is going to go
This conflicts with what JCS General Peter Pace, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said on Friday.
General Pace:
Any unit that might go over with less than 12 months of dwell time will specifically be brought to the secretary
Secretary Gates said when he was asked why he made an exception:
I have not been asked to approve a unit to go over with less than a year of dwell time
It seems that the credibility of the Secretary of Defense is on the line with his troops. The military being such a large organization, it is often that those at the top dictate unrealistic policies. Saying that every soldier deserves a year off, between combat tours might make the top brass sleep better at night, but I think most soldiers were probably thinking along the lines as I was when they announced this original policy. Let us see how long this lasts. Fighting a war with all volunteer forces that is drawn out and "Long" as some have called it is not easy. Yet, it seems that to many Americans though, they are still oblivious to the sacrifices made by both the living and the dead of those who fight this nation's wars. (At least 30 percent of the population is still buried with head in the sand.)