The Washington Post reports today on the decrease in readiness among U.S. ground combat forces. Not only are the soldiers and Marines worn down by continuous deployments, but tactically there are few available forces to respond other potential conflicts throughout the world. According to the Post, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody told the Senate Armed Services Committee:
"When the five-brigade surge went in...that took all the stroke out of the shock absorbers for the United States Army."
Currently, Army soldiers serve 15-month overseas deployments with 12 months at home in between. Marines serve seven-month deployments separated by another seven months. For the Marine Corps (a much smaller branch of service than the Army) the fact that 3,200 Marines are now being sent to Afghanistan is considered by some to be severely degrading Marine assets.
"There has been little, if any, change of the stress or tempo for our
forces," [said Gen. Robert Magnus, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps], calling the current pace of operations
"unsustainable."
Magnus suggested that if more Marines are freed from Iraq they could
also go to Afghanistan. Marines "will move to the sound of the guns in
Afghanistan," he said. But he said it would be difficult to keep the
force split between the two countries because the Marine Corps has
limited resources to command a divided force and supply it
logistically.
The Marine Corps is "basically in two boats at the same time," he said.
The Post further reported that efforts to increase the number of soldiers and Marines will not translate into units able to provide operational relief until 2011.
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