US extends troops' tours of duty

US troops are to serve up to 15 months in Iraq and Afghanistan instead of the usual 12-month tours under new rules.

Stretched thin by four years of war, the move is aimed at maintaining troop numbers in the two countries.

The change, announced by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, is the latest blow to the army that has been given ever-shorter periods of rest and retraining at home between overseas deployments.

Rather than continue to cut home leave intervals to a point that might compromise soldiers’ training, Gates chose to lengthen combat tours to buy time for units newly returned from battle.

The longer tours will affect about 100,000 soldiers currently in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus untold thousands more who deploy later. It does not affect US marines or the national guard or reserve.

“Our forces are stretched; there’s no question about that,” Gates said.

The extended tours are a price the army must pay to sustain the troop build-up that President George Bush ordered in January as part of his revised strategy for stabilising Baghdad and averting a US defeat. Troop levels are being boosted from 15 brigades to 20 brigades, and in order to keep that up beyond summer the army faced harsh choices: Either send units to Iraq with less than 12 months at home or extend tours.

The decision also underscores the political cost the administration has had to pay in order to keep alive its hope that it will ultimately produce the stability in Baghdad that experts say is needed before US troops can begin going home.

At a news conference in the military’s Pentagon headquarters, Gates said it was too early to estimate how long the troop build-up would last, but his new policy would give the Pentagon the capability to maintain the higher force levels until next April.

Democrats in Congress, and some Republicans, oppose the build-up and are trying to force Bush to change course. In January, the administration indicated the build-up might begin to be reversed by late this year.

Reaction on Capitol Hill to Gates’ announcement was harsh.

“Extending the tours of all active-duty army personnel is an unacceptable price for our troops and their families to pay,” said Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives.

Another Democrat, Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said the longer tours will have a “chilling effect” on recruiting and the army’s ability to keep soldiers from quitting the service.

“We also must not underestimate the enormous negative impact this will have on army families,” Skelton said.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a US Air Force reserve officer who supports the troop build-up, said of the affected soldiers: “They’ll be disappointed, but they’ll do it.”

Indeed, at Fort Bliss, Texas, home of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Calvary Division, some army families took the news in stride.

Carol Frennier, whose husband, Command Sgt Maj Steve Frennier, is in Iraq, said she had prepared herself and her family for a longer deployment.

“They kind of told us to expect 12 months to 18 months,” she said. “We were already prepared to have them extended.”