More time at home is goal

[thedrifter]

More time at home is goal
JCS chairman visits troops at Lejeune
April 2, 2008 - 1:00AM
HEATHER GALE
THE DAILY NEWS

Shorter deployments and more time at home with their families for troops are a priority for military planners, troops at Camp Lejeune were assured Tuesday by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"(Right now) we need to move down from 15-month deployments to 12-month deployments as rapidly as we can for the Army," Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said during a visit with servicemen and women at Camp Lejeune.

Before a standing-room-only gathering of more than 550 Marines and sailors, Mullen said military leaders want to move to having a person spend twice as much time at home as they would overseas. Currently, Marines are at seven-month deployments and have felt a tremendous amount of pressure from their time away.

"We want to move to a two-to-one dwell time-to-deploy time as rapidly as we can," he said.

In comments before taking questions from the audience, Mullen spoke of his gratitude for what the military has done and continues to do for the troops and their families.

"Everything we are involved in from promoting and education to the opportunities for families is changing as we speak," he said. "I think we live in a time where we can't be satisfied with just the status quo."

Among the topics raised by the troops was the impending growth of military personnel in the area and how the government was working with local communities to meet the challenge. Plans call for the addition of about 9,900 Marines and sailors at Lejeune and the New River and Cherry Point air stations by 2011.

Mullen said the expansion has everyone focused and that local leadership was "very much engaged" in the process.

"We know how military-friendly the state of North Carolina is and how friendly this area is and how much we depend on each other," he said.

Mullen said the military wants to continue to build on that relationship and work together to make sure plans are enacted to take care of the Marines and their families.

Another question was asked about the Chinese and their recent advancement in technology and how the military plans to counteract any possible attacks.

"They are developing a military capability that is maturing rapidly, and ... we don't necessarily have a clear idea of their intent," he said. "With (the Chinese), not being transparent enough is something we routinely discuss with them."

Mullen said military leaders constantly have discussions with the Chinese in order to understand their intentions.

"We would like our relationship to be strong and do not want to have that part of the world erupt in any kind of conflict," he said. "So we need to understand why they are (growing)."

Because of those issues and others raised at Tuesday's session, Mullen said leaders must be mindful of the defense budget.

"We have got we take care of and adequately fund you and your families to make sure we are a very robust, healthy force for a long time in the future," he said. "To not do so, I think, would be very dangerous in this time in history."

Mullen said that when he was the head of the Navy, 60 to 70 percent of the defense budget went toward the people and the rest was used to operate and buy supplies. If people want to reduce the budget, he said, they need to do so intelligently.

"Our budget, where in 2000 or 2001 it was $350 billion, is more than $700 billion for the fiscal year," he said. "Now a significant portion of that is the cost of the war, but even if you take that out, it is $500 billion. We are well resourced now to do what we need to do, and we just need to invest wisely."



Contact city and county reporter Heather Gale at hgale@freedomenc.com or 910-353-1171 ext. 8464.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Mullen: Military will follow orders
Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff takes questions during visit to Lejeune
Jay Price, Staff Writer
CAMP LEJEUNE - If a Democrat is elected president and demands that the troops in Iraq be withdrawn, the military will be ready to do what it's told, President Bush's top military adviser said Tuesday.

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was responding to a question from a young Marine at Camp Lejeune in one of the town hall meetings Mullen routinely holds with troops.

The enlisted man, seated among a group of about 600, said it seemed likely one of two Democratic candidates would be elected and asked what that would mean for the military -- noting that Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have both vowed to immediately start bringing troops home.

Mullen responded, essentially, that it was his duty to do what his civilian leaders ask.

"When we get a new president come early next year, we'll get a mission," Mullen said. "I don't know what it will be. There is a lot of time between now and January. A lot of things could happen or not happen that would affect that.

"I'll get that mission then ... and carrying out that mission for the new president would be my top priority, whatever that mission might be and whomever, whether it's a Democrat or Republican, no matter who wins."

Mullen fielded questions from the group of enlisted Marines and sailors on such topics as the threat of the Chinese military's growing technological expertise and what one young Marine deemed bad food at the chow halls on base.

He answered questions at similar sessions at Fort Bragg on Monday and was to do a second round at Lejeune on Tuesday with senior noncommissioned officers and officers.

He thanked the young men and women for serving at a point when there was more uncertainty and danger than any other time in his career and told them they were a part of the "best military in the history of the world."

"You are serving at a time when you're writing history, and you're doing it more than anybody else," he said.

After meeting with the enlisted Marines and sailors, Mullen talked briefly with journalists.

An important goal, he said, was to reduce the length of deployment for soldiers from 15 months to 12 months and to boost the time troops are home between deployments. That should help ease the stress on troops and their families of the tough cycle of deployments in the past few years.

It's too early to tell, he said, whether the recent fighting between Iraqi security forces and Shiite extremists will affect the size of the U.S. force there. Mullen was responding to a question about whether the U.S. troop level could be reduced this year below the 130,000 who were deployed before the buildup in early 2007.

"Specifically with what's happened in Basrah over the past week, I think it's too early to tell, to take lessons from that to see exactly where we are," Mullen said.

The British government announced Tuesday it would back away from its own troop reduction plan. The British have about 4,000 troops near Basrah in southern Iraq, a hot spot in the recent fighting. They had been planning to cut that number in the next few weeks, leaving about 2,500 in Iraq, but they decided to delay because of the unrest.

jay.price@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4526

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Mullen: Military ready to work with new president
By Jay Price, Staff writer
CAMP LEJEUNE -- If a Democrat is elected president and demands that the troops in be withdrawn, the military will be ready to do what it's told, said President George W. Bush's top military advisor today.

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was responding to a question from a young Marine in one of the "Town Hall meetings" Mullen routinely holds with troops.

The enlisted man, seated among a crowd of about 600, said that it seemed likely one of the two Democratic candidates would be elected and asked what that would mean for the military, since Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama have both said one of their first actions if elected would be to start bringing home troops.

Mullen responded, essentially, that it was his duty to do what the military's civilian leaders ask.

"When we get a new president come early next year, we'll get a mission," Mullen said. "I don't know what it will be. There is a lot of time between now and January. A lot of things could happen or not happen that would effect that.

"I'll get that mission then... and carrying out that mission for the new president would be my top priority, whatever that mission might be and whomever, whether it's a Democrat or Republican, no matter who wins."

"We plan ahead all the time, create options all the time. It's something we're certainly mindful of doing constantly against the current mission set."

Mullen fielded questions from the group of enlisted Marines on everything from the effects of the Chinese military's growing technological expertise to what one young Marine deemed bad food at the chow halls on base. He did similar sessions at Fort Bragg Monday and was to do another at Lejeune Tuesday with senior non-commissioned officers and officers.

After meeting with the enlisted Marines, Mullen talked briefly with journalists.

It's too early to tell if the fighting between Iraqi security forces and Shiite extremists will affect U.S. troop levels, he said, in response to a question about whether troop levels could be reduced this year below the 130,000 who were in Iraq before the troop surge that began in early 2007.

He said that dipping below 130,000 troops by year's end depended on the security situation in Iraq and what commanders there recommended.

Ellie