Gen. Petraeus: Do Not Deploy 82nd Airborne Brigade Again
Submitted by Bobby Muller - ... on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 1:13pm
Veterans for America applauds General David H. Petraeus for stating today in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee that he will probably recommend this fall that the U.S. military reduce its troop presence in Iraq by an additional Army Brigade Combat Team.
Veterans for America is deeply concerned about the stress placed on our Army's frontline units, and we urge General Petraeus not to again deploy the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division, which is based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced that the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division, which has already been deployed three times since September 11, 2001, will be deployed again this fall, making it one of a handful of BCT's that will have seen four tours.
During its last Iraq deployment which was extended to 15 months, the 3rd BCT suffered the highest fatalities of any unit in the 82nd Airborne Division; according to VFA research, the 3rd BCT lost 49 Soldiers during its 15-month long deployment to Iraq.
We must start giving our troops rest. The churning of our frontline units has had an incredible negative impact on the health of our troops. We stand posed to irrevocably damage the lives of those who deploy multiple times if we don't allow them time to heal.
The members of the 3rd BCT -- 70 to 80% of whom have already been deployed to Iraq -- deserve more time at home to reconnect with family and friends, prepare for other contingencies and, most importantly, they deserve time to heal.
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Thanks for posting this here. I know many soldiers and families from the 82nd, and have witnessed the stress that repeated long deployments have had on them. There are children in our child care community who have grown up without knowing any other way of life - Dad (usually Dad) is almost always getting ready for deployment.
These brave soldiers deserve honor and thanks from all of us, and they deserve a break. They have already done the job asked of them, and done it well. Let's keep them home.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi
Pointing at Naked Emperors
It's the Leadership,
not GEN Petraeus who decides which unit is where in the rotation. Because we are stretched so thin, a unit is there, just back, or getting ready to return. He is the DoD message issued Monday:
When you say "leadership"
to whom are you referring?
I know it's not congressional -- or is it? It can't be. Is it the joint chiefs? I'm not being facetious; I really don't know. Educate me.
We all do. God it's heartbreaking.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi
Pointing at Naked Emperors
The Process
In brief, the way it works is that the combatant command commander (in this case the CENTCOM Commander) gets a requirements request from the operational commander (in this case, GEN Petraeus, Commanding General, Multi-National Force - Iraq (MNF-I)) and sends it to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They formalize the request by coordinating with the various services who make unit recommendations based on the mission, availability, and other service concerns. They then send it to the National Command Authorities (NCM), who are the Secretary of Defense and the President. They approve, disapprove or modify the request. (I'll skip all of the politics involved!)
Note that the individual services are responsible for raising, training, equipping, deploying, and ensuring the readiness of all their forces. The forces are then placed under the command of the various combatant command commanders who are assigned the regional responsibilities all around the world.
In other words, GEN Petraeus is in the Army but doesn't technically communicate with the Army; he talks through the CENTCOM CDR, to the JCS, the SECDEF and President.
Hope this helps, Linda.
It does. Thanks very much.
I get it now. :)
Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi
Pointing at Naked Emperors