Strained Army Extends Tours To 15 Months

In this image released by the US Marines, a Marine with 2nd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, pauses for some rest in a building during Operation Zaidon II, Tuesday, March 22, 2007, in Zaidon, Iraq. Regimental Combat Team 6 is deployed with Multi National Forces-West in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in the Al Anbar province of Iraq. (Cpl.samuel D. Corum - AP)

Congressional Democrats railed yesterday against the decision to extend Army tours, calling it a further buildup of a war that has no end in sight. They called on Bush to change what they termed a "failed strategy" in Iraq that continues to stress U.S. forces to the breaking point.

"The Army has attempted in vain to stabilize a rotational scheme for an unstable and open-ended strategy," said Carl M. Levin (Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Once again, the failures of this administration are being underwritten by our troops."

Rep. Ike Skelton (Mo.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said the new policy will have "a chilling effect on recruiting, retention and readiness."

Two Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee, John W. Warner (Va.) and Susan Collins (Maine), who co-sponsored a resolution in February opposing the troop increase, said the extended tours could pose risks to the all-volunteer force. Collins said they underscore "the urgent need to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps."

Military experts said the Army has held up better under the strain than many predicted, but they agreed that the unusual step of extending standard combat tours to 15 months could finally undermine the force. "They have set in motion a process that could easily break the Army over the next couple of years," said Edwin Dorn, a professor at the University of Texas and a former undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. "It is setting the Army on a descending spiral. You make the job harder, you make the tours longer, you put additional stress on families -- all of which makes it harder to recruit new people," he said.

Gates, citing solid recruiting and retention numbers, said the escalating demands do not mean the Army is "broken." But senior Army leaders have said it is approaching that point.

"Clearly, it's going to have an unpredictable impact on the retention of mid- and senior-grade noncommissioned officers. It already is having an impact on company-grade officers, the captains," said retired Lt. Gen. Theodore G. Stroup Jr., who was a personnel chief.

Indeed, an overriding concern recently voiced by mid-level Army officers is that they are being asked to shoulder a disproportionate share of the nation's burden. "I don't know whether the American people have figured it out or not, but . . . the Army and Marine Corps -- the land forces of the United States -- are all in, all their chips are in," said retired Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, president of the Association of the U.S. Army and a former Army chief of staff.

The tour extensions come as the Bush administration is casting about for new leadership for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The White House is seeking a high-powered military czar to issue directions to the Pentagon, State Department and other agencies but is having difficulty finding candidates willing to take the job, The Washington Post reported yesterday.

For some Army families, the change will have dramatic consequences -- from postponed weddings to, inevitably, the loss of loved ones. For all, it will mean dragging out already painful separations. "Fifteen months is a long time . . . especially if you leave an infant and come back to a toddler," said Carolyn Crissman, the wife of Lt. Col. Doug Crissman, who is in Iraq.

Some families had braced for longer separations. Tracy Gee, whose husband, Staff Sgt. Wendell Gee, left in January for his third tour in Iraq, said she had grown so resigned to delays in his return that she had told their three children that he would not be home until July 2008.

"They were extended again and again and again, so finally no one believed them," she said. She decided to expect a long absence because "it's a lot easier to get happy than be upset." Still, she said, "I'm just ready for it to be over."

Staff writer Rick Atkinson contributed to this report.