thedrifter
07-02-07, 07:03 AM
Senator vows to add 1-to-1 rotation to defense budget
By Rick Maze - rmaze@militarytimes.com
Posted : July 09, 2007
A freshman senator and combat veteran vows to do what he says active-duty military leaders should have done long ago: Set a rotation schedule for combat that guarantees at least as much time at home as spent in the war zone.
The 1-to-1 rotation plan would apply to all the services, although it is mostly aimed at Army and Marine Corps ground troops.
“If we want to be honest about the best way to support our troops, we can start with the rotation policy,” said Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., a decorated Marine veteran of the Vietnam War, best-selling author of books about wartime valor and courage and ex-Navy secretary.
On behalf of Senate Democrats, Webb is pushing an amendment to the 2008 defense budget to guarantee more time at home — “dwell time” — for combat troops.
“Basically, it says you cannot send anyone back unless they have been home as long as they were gone, unless they want to go back. � You could volunteer,” he said. “If you were deployed for 12 months, you get 12 months at home. If you were deployed for seven months, you get seven months at home. If you were gone 15 months, you get 15 months at home.”
Such deployment restrictions have been opposed by the Bush administration in the past, and this time could hold up passage of the defense budget. But Webb thinks there will be bipartisan support for his proposal and said he is ready to face critics.
In response to complaints about back-to-back combat tours that leave troops little time to recover and spend time with their families, military officials often have said that this is a consequence of serving in uniform for a nation at war, and troops just have to make the sacrifice.
Webb, however, said that isn’t good enough. “After four years of predictable operations, op tempo should be designed to protect the well-being of troops,” he said.
“I am very disappointed in the active-duty leadership,” he said. “Who is going to take care of the troops if they aren’t? Military leaders have failed to act to protect the rotation policy, so we need to do so. We owe this to the people who have stepped forward to serve our nation.
“This is, in my view, the most glaring problem the military is facing in terms of readiness. It is time to fit the strategy to the troops you have,” he said.
That view is shared by prominent Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, who broke from the administration with a surprise announcement June 25 that the Bush strategy in Iraq is not working.
Under Webb’s proposal, the dwell-time rules would take effect the day the bill is enacted, so it would affect those who have just returned from deployment, those on deployment and those who would deploy in the future, he said.
His plan includes a mechanism for waiving the rules “for a true operations crisis, such as something on the Korean peninsula,” he said.
The president would have to certify that an emergency existed if involuntary deployments would cut into promised time at home.
Webb expects bipartisan support, though how much he will get from Republicans is not clear.
One hurdle he faces is the possibility of a presidential veto of the defense bill if it contains his deployment restriction. But a growing number of Senate Republicans have shown a willingness to break with the administration on Iraq policy, which weakens a veto threat and has emboldened Webb.
In his June 25 announcement, Lugar cited the strain on the military as one reason the administration needs to try something new.
“The window during which we can continue to employ American troops in Iraqi neighborhoods without damaging our military strength or our ability to respond to other national security priorities is closing,” Lugar said.
Moreover, Lugar said, the surge — a burst of U.S. combat forces trying to reduce violence to the point that Iraqi military and security forces can take over the mission of security — is unlikely to work fast enough for the political process. “Americans want results in months,” he said.
Webb said he thinks his amendment can withstand criticism from the Bush administration because it does not interfere with the commander in chief’s executive powers; the Constitution gives Congress power to make rules and regulations for the military.
Webb’s amendment still carries some controversy because it applies to individuals, counting each person’s time deployed and time at home. Webb said there is an issue with what happens when someone changes units after a deployment, and their new unit gets a deployment order.
Some members of the Senate Armed Services Committee had argued that only unit deployments, not individual deployments, should be counted under the new rules.
Webb said he did not see this as a major problem, and certainly not a problem that should deny a service member time at home.
Webb said he began working on the proposal after President Bush vetoed the 2007 war funding bill earlier this year because it included several deployment restrictions, including limits on tour lengths, restrictions on deploying anyone who wasn’t fully trained and equipped, and a similar promise of a 1-for-1 deployment-to-dwell time ratio.
White House officials cited the deployment limits, whose chief sponsor was another former Marine, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House defense appropriations panel, as part of the reason for the veto.
“I reviewed the provisions and looked for one that was simply understood, that everyone could support,” Webb said.
He said he believes the idea of troops receiving as much time at home as they spend deployed “is an unassailable bottom line.”
Ellie
By Rick Maze - rmaze@militarytimes.com
Posted : July 09, 2007
A freshman senator and combat veteran vows to do what he says active-duty military leaders should have done long ago: Set a rotation schedule for combat that guarantees at least as much time at home as spent in the war zone.
The 1-to-1 rotation plan would apply to all the services, although it is mostly aimed at Army and Marine Corps ground troops.
“If we want to be honest about the best way to support our troops, we can start with the rotation policy,” said Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., a decorated Marine veteran of the Vietnam War, best-selling author of books about wartime valor and courage and ex-Navy secretary.
On behalf of Senate Democrats, Webb is pushing an amendment to the 2008 defense budget to guarantee more time at home — “dwell time” — for combat troops.
“Basically, it says you cannot send anyone back unless they have been home as long as they were gone, unless they want to go back. � You could volunteer,” he said. “If you were deployed for 12 months, you get 12 months at home. If you were deployed for seven months, you get seven months at home. If you were gone 15 months, you get 15 months at home.”
Such deployment restrictions have been opposed by the Bush administration in the past, and this time could hold up passage of the defense budget. But Webb thinks there will be bipartisan support for his proposal and said he is ready to face critics.
In response to complaints about back-to-back combat tours that leave troops little time to recover and spend time with their families, military officials often have said that this is a consequence of serving in uniform for a nation at war, and troops just have to make the sacrifice.
Webb, however, said that isn’t good enough. “After four years of predictable operations, op tempo should be designed to protect the well-being of troops,” he said.
“I am very disappointed in the active-duty leadership,” he said. “Who is going to take care of the troops if they aren’t? Military leaders have failed to act to protect the rotation policy, so we need to do so. We owe this to the people who have stepped forward to serve our nation.
“This is, in my view, the most glaring problem the military is facing in terms of readiness. It is time to fit the strategy to the troops you have,” he said.
That view is shared by prominent Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, who broke from the administration with a surprise announcement June 25 that the Bush strategy in Iraq is not working.
Under Webb’s proposal, the dwell-time rules would take effect the day the bill is enacted, so it would affect those who have just returned from deployment, those on deployment and those who would deploy in the future, he said.
His plan includes a mechanism for waiving the rules “for a true operations crisis, such as something on the Korean peninsula,” he said.
The president would have to certify that an emergency existed if involuntary deployments would cut into promised time at home.
Webb expects bipartisan support, though how much he will get from Republicans is not clear.
One hurdle he faces is the possibility of a presidential veto of the defense bill if it contains his deployment restriction. But a growing number of Senate Republicans have shown a willingness to break with the administration on Iraq policy, which weakens a veto threat and has emboldened Webb.
In his June 25 announcement, Lugar cited the strain on the military as one reason the administration needs to try something new.
“The window during which we can continue to employ American troops in Iraqi neighborhoods without damaging our military strength or our ability to respond to other national security priorities is closing,” Lugar said.
Moreover, Lugar said, the surge — a burst of U.S. combat forces trying to reduce violence to the point that Iraqi military and security forces can take over the mission of security — is unlikely to work fast enough for the political process. “Americans want results in months,” he said.
Webb said he thinks his amendment can withstand criticism from the Bush administration because it does not interfere with the commander in chief’s executive powers; the Constitution gives Congress power to make rules and regulations for the military.
Webb’s amendment still carries some controversy because it applies to individuals, counting each person’s time deployed and time at home. Webb said there is an issue with what happens when someone changes units after a deployment, and their new unit gets a deployment order.
Some members of the Senate Armed Services Committee had argued that only unit deployments, not individual deployments, should be counted under the new rules.
Webb said he did not see this as a major problem, and certainly not a problem that should deny a service member time at home.
Webb said he began working on the proposal after President Bush vetoed the 2007 war funding bill earlier this year because it included several deployment restrictions, including limits on tour lengths, restrictions on deploying anyone who wasn’t fully trained and equipped, and a similar promise of a 1-for-1 deployment-to-dwell time ratio.
White House officials cited the deployment limits, whose chief sponsor was another former Marine, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House defense appropriations panel, as part of the reason for the veto.
“I reviewed the provisions and looked for one that was simply understood, that everyone could support,” Webb said.
He said he believes the idea of troops receiving as much time at home as they spend deployed “is an unassailable bottom line.”
Ellie