Two New Reports Prove: Our Deployment Cycles Are A Recipe For Disaster.

Next week, General David Petraeus will travel to Capitol Hill and make his report to Congress on the war in Iraq.  If, as expected, he announces a pause in the withdrawal in troops from Iraq, our Congress must say "no" for the sake of our military and of our servicemembers.

We can not pause the withdrawal of our troops because we are seeing, everyday, the absolute devastation our wars, with frequent, long, often extended deployments, are having on our men and women in uniform.

How can we constantly churn our troops like this? How can we consciously compound the wounds of war? We are sending men and women back for fourth and fifth tours of duty when the Department of Defense, by its own estimation, says that with each additional tour, troops are 60% more likely to develop severe post-combat mental health issues.

Today, here at Veterans for America as part of our Wounded Warrior Outreach Program, we are releasing two very important reports. In fact, we are delivering these reports to every Senator and House Member on Capitol Hill so that they can be better informed when General Petraeus testifies and when they weigh all elements of Iraq policy.

Our first new report – The Consequences of Churning" – takes an in-depth, state-by-state look at the toll multiple deployments are taking on frontline Army units.

These units are going through high-intensity combat, are not getting adequate dwell time between tours, and are also being devastated by the fifteen month tours.

Our second new report -- "Weekend Warriors to Frontline Soldiers" -- examines the toll of repeated deployments on our National Guard, again breaking it down state-by-state.

Here we see that of the nearly 200,000 National Guard members that have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and almost half are returning with post-combat mental problems.

The problems of our troops are real and immediate, and they are getting worse.  The Soldiers who are seeing the most combat are also being sent back to Iraq and Afghanistan the greatest number of times.

As part of our Wounded Warrior Outreach Program, we traveled to Fort Drum in New York State and saw, first-hand, the devastation that is happening right now.  Devastation that gets worse with every tour, every deployment.

We are releasing these reports, and we have a simple message: enough is enough. The greatest threat to our military is the continued deployment of our troops under unfair conditions; it’s as simple as that. As Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said, "The well is deep, but it is not infinite...People are tired."


The withdrawals must continue, our troops must come home, and we must be ready to help them.

We have to continue to assess how much help the 1.6 million Americans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan need and what assistance they will need in the future. We know the need will be great; it is our duty to be ready to answer the call of those who answered the call for us.

•  Bring them home now

  How about telling the Repugs in the White House that if they don't bring them home, we Dems will in 2009; and that when we do, we will welcome the troops with candy and flowers and parades and honor.

  It might appeal to Bush's vanity, his love of being at the center of pageantry.  Picture it, Mr. President, if it's you who brings them home, you can land the aircraft among the transports and stride onto the tarmac in your flight suit with thousands of returning combat troops.

  If you don't, Mr. President, in 2009 Barack will bring them home, and every town in America will have a parade for our returning heroes.

  by deben on Fri Apr 04, 2008 at 06:10:44 AM PST

•  I hope the Senators grill Petraeus harder ..

  this time around .. as has been seen lately .. the Iraqi army basically folded up its tent against Al-Sadr's forces .. and how long have we supposedly spenbt training them? .. it's about time they took control over their country .. the sooner they learn that we won't prop them up .. the sooner they'll get their act together .. our soldiers deserve to come home

  by Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle on Fri Apr 04, 2008 at 06:49:50 AM PST

•  Thank you Bobby

  for providing this information.  I will call my congresscritters to make sure they read these reports.

  Thanks also to Veterans for America for working on this very important issue.

  Our men and women having borne the brunt of this war, while other Americans ride their SUVs with gusto.  

  I pray for our soldiers daily, the ones who have returned and the ones still there.  We will have to work hard together to give each and every one of them what they and their families need to heal, both physically and mentally.

  by Scubaval on Fri Apr 04, 2008 at 08:48:10 AM PST