Another View
Troops serving in Iraq deserve more leave time

By David P. Colley

September 24, 2007


Sen. James Webb's bill to grant Iraq veterans home leave time equal to the amount of time they spend in the war zone was a long time in coming and should be reconsidered after being defeated in the Senate. Accounts from soldiers fighting in Iraq speak of the relentless fear and anxiety they suffer in combat operations. Day after day they go forth to face snipers, roadside bombs and intermittent but intense firefights that claim American lives and leave many others wounded or maimed.

It seems fundamentally obvious that soldiers cannot withstand indefinitely the rigors of war as we are demanding of our troops in Iraq. Soldiers of the French Army mutinied in 1917 after three years of war and after a million of their comrades had died in the trenches. During WW II, American combat formations were regularly pulled from the front lines for rest and rehabilitation. The rule of thumb was that soldiers lose their effectiveness after more than 90 days in sustained combat.

For the most part the fighting in Iraq is not as intense and as unremitting as during WW II when many of our soldiers endured weeks of ceaseless small arms and artillery fire. But even in WW II our troops did not have to endure combat for years on end. Except for about three divisions that fought from 1942 to 1945, most of our troops in WW II experienced no more than 11 months under fire. That was the period from D-Day, June 6, 1944, to May 6, 1945, the day the war ended in Europe where the vast bulk of our troops served. Many experienced combat for only a few months as their divisions came on the line in late 1944 and in 1945. One division fought for a day.

In the Pacific the island warfare was deadly but short in duration compared to Europe. While the struggle on Guadalcanal lasted about six months, the Marines who fought there were relieved after four months. Iwo Jima and Okinawa cost us thousands of dead and wounded, but lasted weeks, not many months or years. The fierce battle at Tarawa, where 3,000 Marines died, lasted only three days.

Regardless of the circumstances, combat soldiers need rest, particularly if they are expected to go back into the fight year after year. So it is inexplicable that our soldiers should be asked to return to the fight in Iraq time and time again without adequate periods of recuperation. Some are on their third tour of duty. They should not pay the price of this nation's unwillingness to go on a war footing in the ''War on Terror.'' We are expecting them and their families to give their ''full measure of devotion,'' while the rest of us give lip service to that hallowed notion. If we need more troops, let's raise more battalions.

We pay homage to the aging veterans of WW II. Maybe it is time to heed the lessons learned in that war that were applied in Korea and Vietnam. Soldiers serving in Korea and in Vietnam went home for good after a year in the war zone.

I recently interviewed a combat veteran from WW II who recalled being part of a green, newly arrived infantry unit that replaced a bloodied and decimated company in the front lines. He was shocked at the appearance of the battered soldiers as they stumbled out with what was described in WW II as ''the thousand yard stare.''

He said, ''I thought, my God, these guys are really beaten. They looked like zombies, they were dirty, unshaven and absolutely without emotion. They looked old enough to be our fathers. Within two weeks we looked the same.''

But beyond the endurance of the soldiers, is the endurance of the nation to wage continuous war. One of the great generals of WW II, George Marshall, understood that democracies fight with fervor, but fervor lasts only so long once the casualty lists appear. During WW II Marshall contemplated a ''surge'' to end the war in 1944 with a massive push into Germany and unleashing the hitherto secret and unused artillery proximity fuse. But Marshall was discouraged by Gen. Eisenhower, the supreme commander in Europe. Marshall knew the nation's patience and resolve had limits and he wanted to end the war quickly. Once, when reminded that the Americans fought the Revolution for seven years, Marshall is said to have commented tersely, ''We can't fight a war that long.'' And so it is with Iraq. Americans just as fervently wish for peace.

David P. Colley is an author who writes frequently on military subjects. His latest book, ''Decision at Strasbourg,'' is due out in May. He lives in Easton.

Ellie