US soldiers ordered to stay on

About 7,000 US soldiers in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan who were planning to retire or leave service in the next few months are getting new marching orders - stay put.

The Army is expanding what it calls a “stop loss” order to keep soldiers in uniform – even those who have met their contractual service obligation or are scheduled to retire – during a rotation of tens of thousands of troops that begins this month and is scheduled to finish in May.