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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (52871)	7/5/2004 2:16:06 PM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793800

We can forecast ETS dates. (End of term of service). ETS dates are set on entry. We can also forecast casualties and enlistments. Take the monthly projected enlistment figure, subtract soldiers with an ETS that month and subtract projected casualties. Add to that, any shortfalls from the previous month's forecast and you have the need. We used to get over the time hump by keeping a full 33% of our Armed Forces in combat reserve. We can't sustain that now, so we are recalling former servicemen and military retirees to fill gaps recruiting command cannot. I heard this morning (not confirmed yet) that the number being recalled is jumping from 5,000 to over 7,000. Think about this. We are recalling 5,000-7,000 folks who have done their duty. We are also now alerting reserve and National Guard units for second tours in Iraq and Afghan. SecDef has authorized a temporary increase in end-strength but recruiting command obviously (to me) cannot fill the slots. Our present troop strength for war is the lowest it has been for war in the last 100 years. Chairman JCS wants temporary authority to increase strength again for 2-3 years. We have entered a war projected to last decades...We are wearing out our Armed Forces including reserves in the first 3-4 years of this war and we all know there is much work to do. Something does not jive here. I have been calling for the draft since last summer when we didn't bring all the reservists home. I am even more convinced that we need it now. uw