Once more, our troops have been “misled” about the length of their deployment. They were assured they would serve no longer than one year in Iraq, which is a very long time when you are a target in an unnecessary war “chosen” for you by the Bush Administration. During an October 2003 interview with Stars & Stripes, prompted by reports of morale problems among military personnel serving in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, in response to questions about troop rotation stated, “At this point there’s still a lot of discussion going on. But I think that the message is clear to American military forces that they’ll be on the ground for a year. That’s for (U.S. Central Command) and Washington – with, of course, input from me – to figure out how we’ll replace them.”
Now it turns out the message wasn’t clear and that some are not going to be allowed to leave Iraq even after their year on the ground is up, much to the anger and dismay of their families. This is in addition to a series of stop-loss and stop-movement orders issued over the last several months, effectively changing military service from voluntary to compulsary, the most recent order on 1/9/2004. Not being able to trust the words of your superiors must be the ultimate morale breaker. Our troops all deserve far better than this; they deserve to come home, and immediately would not be too soon.
“This is the worst news,” said Jessica Corey, 29, whose husband flies Black Hawk helicopters for the unit. “Besides being absolutely stunned, we’re completely heartbroken, too.”
The Pentagon announced this week that 1,500 soldiers, National Guardsmen and reservists would be forced to stay in Iraq beyond their one-year rotation dates…
Other U.S. Army Europe units from Germany affected include: the 19th Combat Support Center from Wiesbaden; the 27th Transportation Battalion, with units in Hanau and Bamberg; the 71st Corps Support Battalion, from Bamberg; and the 181st Transportation Battalion, from Mannheim. All of them deployed to Iraq between January and March 2003.
Thousands more soldiers just missed a similar fate. A Pentagon spokesman, who requested anonymity, said U.S. Central Command at first sought permission to extend at least 50 units beyond their first anniversary. The Department of Defense pared the list by more than three-fourths.…..Read more