WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- In July, some soldiers from the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq publicly criticized Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and their mission after hearing that their promised return home had slipped once again.
Their unusual public airing of grievances raises a serious question: is the active army too small for current operations?
Those soldiers were quickly rebuked by Army Gen. John Abizaid, the commander in the Persian Gulf. "None of us that wear this uniform are free to say anything disparaging about the secretary of Defense or the president of the United States," Gen Abizaid told the Pentagon press corps. Abizaid would not speculate as to whether the outspoken soldiers might be punished, however.
The soldiers' frustrations have been echoed by waiting wives. In June, according to the New York Times, 800 "seething" spouses, most of them wives of 3rd Infantry Division soldiers, verbally attacked a colonel at a command-sponsored meeting. One observer said, "They were crying, cussing, yelling and screaming for their men to come back."
Reports of other military spouse confrontations with uniformed officials have been widely reported in the press.
Lt. Col. Mark Calvert, a battalion commander in Iraq, used a time-honored soldier's adage when he addressed this issue. "When are we going home?" Col. Calvert asked his assembled soldiers rhetorically. "We are home," he explained, looking at the dusty windblown encampment in Baghdad. "And we will be at home here until the army tells us this isn't home anymore."
That's the tough reality of war and a common view shared by tough-minded soldiers like Dan Sommers, a 28-year army veteran. "It's an all-volunteer army now. Nobody drafted them," he said, "They're in the wrong line of work (referring to the complaining soldiers)."
Unfortunately, the Pentagon can't afford to keep its head in the Iraqi sand. Our volunteers are being run into the ground and their families are less willing to be silent. A tipping point is on the horizon.
Nearly two-thirds of the army's 33 combat brigades are deployed overseas: 16 in Iraq, two in Afghanistan, two in South Korea and one in the Balkans. The remaining units are either modernizing and can't deploy abroad or preparing to relieve other forces that are scattered across 145 nations.
The problem has been getting worse for years. A 2001 Rand study found that the operational pace has increased as much as 300 percent for some units since the end of the Cold War. The increase was even greater after the 9/11 attacks on America. Meanwhile, the Army has shrunk by one-third since the first Gulf War.
Surprisingly, frequent overseas deployments have been found to positively affect soldier retention, according to the Rand study. However, add hostilities to the equation and retention goes flat or negative.
Retention is also linked to other factors such as pay, family time, quality of leadership, and job enjoyment, according to Rand. Better pay is helpful, but it may not be enough to make up for lost family time. More than half of all soldiers are married; most have young children.
At Fort Campbell, Ky., home to the Iraq-based 101st Airborne Division, 10,000 families cope with longer and more dangerous deployments. The effects of deployments on families are evident. Children's grades suffer and school counselors help students with anger management. Post therapists and counseling hotlines stay busy. Meanwhile, the specter of bad news never lifts as military wives dread the unwelcome sounds of military officials arriving at their doors. Ten soldiers with the 101st Airborne have been killed in Iraq.
Unfortunately, the problems don't stop once the soldier returns for breaks between deployments.
It is a little-reported fact of military life that even the most resilient soldier marriage is vulnerable after combat. A Brigham Young University study found that combat veterans' first marriages are 62 percent more likely to end in separation or divorce than other men's. Apparently, states the 2002 study, "Traumatic experiences like combat seem to have a persistent impact on the ability of people to form and maintain successful relationships." Studies after the Persian Gulf War showed divorce rates surged at three army posts that sent troops overseas.
These family issues impact the nation's army. "This unrelenting pace of deployments is a retention issue," testified Holly Petraeus, wife of Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, 101st Airborne commander, before a congressional committee. "Families will not be willing to go it alone forever, with little relief."
The Army will continue to rely on the National Guard to make up for active force shortfalls. The Pentagon has started calling up as many as 10,000 more guardsmen for duty in Iraq, reports the Wall Street Journal. More than a quarter of a million reserves and guardsmen already have been mobilized to help fight the war on terrorism, including the effort in Iraq.
"We are not weekend warriors anymore, we are in the line of fire," said Rich Arnold, a spokesman for the National Guard Association. At least six national guardsmen have been killed in combat in Iraq.
President George W. Bush has consistently said that the war on terror will be a long one. But do we have enough forces to maintain the fight?
"I think we're going to look at the end strength of our active forces and ask the question, 'Is it enough?,'" said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve. "Deployment levels at this rate are going to be beyond the capacity of the guard and reserve to maintain."
Our Army is spread thin across the globe. Soldier families are reaching a breaking point. To fight this new war, we need a new look at force structure and deployment.
-- Robert L. Maginnis is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, a Fox News contributor and works with the U.S. Army on multinational operations.
-- Outside View commentaries are written for UPI by outside writers on subjects of public interest.
