Casey: Move to shorter tours ‘has to happen’

Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey speaks before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Feb. 26.


Casey: Move to shorter tours ‘has to happen’
By Matthew Cox - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 27, 2008 17:41:55 EST

The Army’s chief of staff reiterated his commitment to shortening combat tours in Iraq to 12 months to a Senate panel Wednesday, stressing that current 15-month deployments are “just not sustainable.”

Echoing comments he made Tuesday to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. George Casey told Appropriations Committee members the Army is out of balance from more than six years of war and back-to-back deployments.

Casey told lawmakers that the service hopes to begin restoring that balance in July when he expects the demand for forces to decrease.

“That has to happen,” he said Wednesday at a fiscal 2009 budget overview hearing on Capital Hill. “Soldiers and leaders need to see that over time they won’t be deploying for 15 months and home for 12.”

Casey, who was the top U.S. commander in Iraq before taking the chief of staff job last spring, told lawmakers that cutting the time soldiers spend in combat is an integral part of reducing the stress on the force.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/army_casey_budget_022708w/