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View Full Version : Iraq Soldiers To Get Brief R&R



Sgt Sostand
09-26-03, 08:26 AM
WASHINGTON - Tens of thousands of American soldiers are expected to get brief vacations from the war in Iraq under the first large scale R&R program since Vietnam.

The first 270 troops were flown Thursday out of the region en route to Germany and the United States, taking leave from deployments that are turning out to be longer and tougher than expected.

The program was ordered to provide relief for forces serving 12-month tours of duty in the hot, dangerous and sometimes primitive conditions in Iraq, as well as those in support roles in neighboring countries. That means it is available to the vast majority of the more than 130,000 troops deployed there.

"Fatigue in the force exists ... especially where there is a lot of fighting going on," said Gen. John Abizaid, head of all forces in the region as commander of the U.S. Central Command.

Abizaid cited the program Thursday in response to a complaint by Democratic Florida Sen. Bill Nelson that there was inequity in the length of service among deployed troops. Abizaid told the Senate Armed Services Committee that some troops have been getting leaves of a few days to countries neighboring Iraq to "get away from the combat zone ... relax, take a shower, have a beer."

The new rest and relaxation leaves announced Thursday will mean offers of 15-day vacations, some with paid transportation, for every soldier, sailor, airman or Marine staying in region for a year, said Marine Maj. Pete Mitchell, a Central Command spokesman.

The first planeload was on the way to Germany, where other forces are normally stationed. An unknown number of the 270 on that flight were to get off there and the rest were to continue to Baltimore, arriving Friday, Mitchell said.

The government pays for the flights to Germany and Baltimore. Troops continuing on from there to their homes or other places will cover that expense.

The program will start out slowly, and eventually the military hopes to also provide flights to Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth and Los Angeles. Eventually, some 750 people are expected to fly in and out of the Iraq region daily, said Army spokesman Joe Burlas.

Yearlong rotations were ordered during the summer for most troops as violent resistance to the occupation spiraled and the Bush administration found little success in getting more nations to contribute forces.

The subject of deployment lengths has been sensitive, with some active-duty soldiers and their families complaining bitterly about delays in their homecoming, repeated deployments and the extension of tours.

Not everyone was happy with the new plan.

Jan Hogan of Eagan, Minn., said nephew Chad Krandall is to come home Monday after drawing No. 1 in the lottery within his 142nd Engineer Combat Battalion of the North Dakota National Guard. He is in Baghdad.

Hogan checked air fares and found it would cost him $1,200 to fly from Baltimore to St. Paul, the nearest big airport to his home in Gwinner, N.D.

"I think the federal government needs to do something about this," Hogan said, suggesting President Bush pay the fare out of money raised at a recent Minnesota political campaign fund-raiser.

She doesn't agree with the extended overseas deployment either.

"They understand they joined for a reason, but they basically joined to protect our country," said Hogan, whose other nephew, Dave Schmaltz, is with the same unit. "It is not the International Guard, it is the National Guard."

The new leave program comes as American forces remain under daily attack from what defense officials say are mostly remnants of Saddam Hussein's forces and loyalists.

"First of all, rest and recuperation ... is essential just because what they're being asked to do is pretty darn difficult," said Mitchell. "But it's more than that; we also believe rest and recuperation will improve readiness."

He said officials believe that after a mental and physical break from Iraq, forces will "be that much more alert, that much ... more on top of the game."

Bob Muller, president of the Vietnam Veterans of American Foundation, took an opposite view, saying he recalls that there was a disproportionate number of casualties among those back from leave in Vietnam compared to the rest of the troops. He said troops go through a rigorous and intense period preparing for deployment, then take time to adapt to a combat zone.

"To get yanked out of that is such a trip in your own head ... it makes it really hard to come back in," he said. "It was sort of like you broke stride ... you're distracted."

Still, he said, he would never say he was against giving leaves.

"My memory of my R&R experience is very vivid," said Muller, who served in the war in the late 1960s with the Marines. "The night before departure was just raucous, exuberant, everybody was pumped. A week later coming back nobody said a word - and I mean it was absolute stone silence."

Retired Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, an artillery commander with the 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam, said he wondered whether some soldiers will not go back - that is, turn up absent without leave after the vacation.

"I'm not saying it will happen, I'm saying it raises the question," he said. "There's a big furor over the extension of (tours). Some might just say 'I don't want to go back in that heat and dust anymore.'"