Pentagon approves 12-month Iraq tours

[thedrifter]

July 23, 2003

Pentagon approves 12-month Iraq tours

By Vince Crawley
Times staff writer



The Pentagon has approved one-year rotations for nearly all troops in Iraq, top military leaders tell the Times.
All members of the Army?s 3rd Infantry Division will be on their way home by the end of September, Gen. John Keane, acting Army chief of staff, said Tuesday in a joint interview with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

The remaining members of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force would remain in Iraq until replaced by Poland?s peacekeeping division, which is expected to deploy about the time the 3rd Infantry Division completes its withdrawal.

Also, Marine units are not currently committed for follow-on forces, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff might call on them for peacekeeping duty if coalition allies don?t contribute enough ground forces.

At least two reserve combat brigades would be rotated into Iraq, as would the Army?s new Stryker brigade home-based at Fort Lewis, Wash.

?We recognize that the situation in Iraq, with the current level of violence, demands the force level that we currently have,? Keane said.

U.S. forces make up about 148,000 of the 160,000 coalition troops in Iraq. At least 50,000 additional troops provide support roles in the region.

?We also want to build in some predictability for our soldiers who are there,? Keane said. Until now, combat troops have been on a ?condition-based? deployment, meaning they would stay until critical objectives are accomplished. However, the new chief of U.S. Central Command, Army Gen. John Abizaid, has said he would need his current troop levels ?for the foreseeable future,? meaning at least 90 days. Even then, officials would want to draw down troop levels cautiously as Iraq takes its first tentative steps toward self-government next year.

?We?ve decided to go to a 12-month tour for the forces that are currently in Iraq and for those that would come into Iraq,? Keane said.

Thus far, there are only two exceptions to the new one-year rule, Keane said. ?The 3rd Infantry Division?s remaining brigades will leave in September,? he explained. ?That would mean one brigade would have 12 months and the other one would have nine.

Also, he said, ?the Marine division that?s in place ? will leave when the Polish division takes its place.? Poland?s force is expected to be ready to take over from the Marines about the time the 3rd Infantry departs. ?Don?t hold us to the exact week or month, but it?ll be in that time frame,? Keane said. ?Everybody else will stay 12 months.?

Follow-on forces will primarily be U.S. Army and coalition units, he said.

?And they may be Marine, depending on the level of participation of our coalition forces,? Keane said. ?We haven?t made a commitment for the Marines to be in those follow-on forces. It?s contingent on the level of participation of the coalition force. Right now we do think the coalition force participation will be sufficient.?

The September homecoming for 3rd Infantry Division follows a timetable outlined by Rumsfeld earlier this month at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

Rumsfeld said all plans are subject to change but Pentagon leaders want to give troops in the field ?reasonable certainty as to what expectations logically ought to be.?

Rumsfeld said the Pentagon still has ?a major effort to add to our force capacity there by bringing in coalition forces.?

Also, National Guard and reserve forces would be deployed only when there aren?t active-duty troops to do the job, said Rumsfeld, who is pressing to reduce the services? reliance on involuntary reserve call-ups.

?Where we have choices, we?re using active components,? Rumsfeld said.

Keane said there would be ?some slight reserve call-up? for follow-on force in Iraq.

?There?ll be two combat brigades,? he said. ?They?re not designated yet. And there?ll also be some combat-service support participation to replace those functions that are currently there. The details and the names of those units haven?t been worked out.?

Keane also said the new Stryker brigade at Fort Lewis, Wash., would play a role in follow-on forces.

Sempers,

Roger