Thursday
May082008
Pentagon PM report
Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 3:26PM
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen briefed the press at the Pentagon. The made a brief opening statement about how May is Military Appreciation Month and then took questions.
Gates stressed that there is no plan to extend the tour of the 3,400 Marines currently in Afghanistan. He said that "no one has suggested even the possibility of extending that rotation and I'd be loath to do that." Mullen followed up that further additions of Marines to Afghanistan are "very much tied to troop levels in Iraq." Gates said that a transition for the Marines from Iraq to Afghanistan "should it occur would be very challenging."
On Myanmar the Secretary said that the Essex Strike Group has been offloading helicopters in Thailand where drops of supplies could be available in Myanmar within hours. The rest of the naval assets in the region have begun to head toward Myanmar in the even that the U.S. military is granted access to give aid. Both the secretary and the admiral stressed that under no circumstances would the U.S. move in without the permission of the Myanmar government. "The tragedy is compounded by the fact that if you look at what our Navy was able to do both with the tsunami and the Pakistani earthquake there is an opportunity here to save a lot of lives and we are fully prepared to help and help right away, it would be a tragedy if these assets, people didn't take advantage of them." Gates emphasized that the U.S. offer to help is totally non-political.
Secretary Gates said that the expulsion of two U.S. military attaches was merely a ti-for-tat response to an earlier expulsion of Russian diplomats from the U.S. for spying. He said that the major aspect of this is reciprocity. Gates, former head of the CIA and a PhD in Russian studies, said that there are intriguing developments coming out of Russia.
There seems to be a steady concern for the size of the force coming from the Department of Defense, especially regarding retention. Gates said that the Defense Department's opposition of the revised GI bill was that education benefits would be made available only after three years of service, instead of six years which is what the DoD would like to see. Gates said that the main concern from troops is the transferability of benefits to a spouse or child and that the Defense Department, in the interest of maintaining a qualified force would like to make these available after at least one reenlistment. Additionally, this concern about retention played out in a question about stop-loss. A higher overall number of military personnel are being stop-lossed now than in 2005. Gates said that stop-loss has been necessary to maintain unit integrity and that one of the main reasons for stop-loss was the 15-month deployments in Iraq. After the brigade combat teams are reduced to 15 in July, Gates said that he expects stop-loss to be reduced in September.
Gates stressed that there is no plan to extend the tour of the 3,400 Marines currently in Afghanistan. He said that "no one has suggested even the possibility of extending that rotation and I'd be loath to do that." Mullen followed up that further additions of Marines to Afghanistan are "very much tied to troop levels in Iraq." Gates said that a transition for the Marines from Iraq to Afghanistan "should it occur would be very challenging."
On Myanmar the Secretary said that the Essex Strike Group has been offloading helicopters in Thailand where drops of supplies could be available in Myanmar within hours. The rest of the naval assets in the region have begun to head toward Myanmar in the even that the U.S. military is granted access to give aid. Both the secretary and the admiral stressed that under no circumstances would the U.S. move in without the permission of the Myanmar government. "The tragedy is compounded by the fact that if you look at what our Navy was able to do both with the tsunami and the Pakistani earthquake there is an opportunity here to save a lot of lives and we are fully prepared to help and help right away, it would be a tragedy if these assets, people didn't take advantage of them." Gates emphasized that the U.S. offer to help is totally non-political.
Secretary Gates said that the expulsion of two U.S. military attaches was merely a ti-for-tat response to an earlier expulsion of Russian diplomats from the U.S. for spying. He said that the major aspect of this is reciprocity. Gates, former head of the CIA and a PhD in Russian studies, said that there are intriguing developments coming out of Russia.
There seems to be a steady concern for the size of the force coming from the Department of Defense, especially regarding retention. Gates said that the Defense Department's opposition of the revised GI bill was that education benefits would be made available only after three years of service, instead of six years which is what the DoD would like to see. Gates said that the main concern from troops is the transferability of benefits to a spouse or child and that the Defense Department, in the interest of maintaining a qualified force would like to make these available after at least one reenlistment. Additionally, this concern about retention played out in a question about stop-loss. A higher overall number of military personnel are being stop-lossed now than in 2005. Gates said that stop-loss has been necessary to maintain unit integrity and that one of the main reasons for stop-loss was the 15-month deployments in Iraq. After the brigade combat teams are reduced to 15 in July, Gates said that he expects stop-loss to be reduced in September.
Stop loss undermines the voluntary nature of the military
Stop-loss is a policy that involuntarily extends military service beyond soldiers enlistment contracts. 58,300 soldiers have been affected by stop loss since 2002, according to the Army. The bill will apply to service members who are forced to continue service after their enlistment is up and after their eligibility for retirement has been extended. There is a provision included that would be retroactive to October 2001 to compensate soldiers who had been stop-lossed since the start of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
Lautenberg calls for the Senate to recognize and hold a hearing for the legislation because, he said “we want our men compensated for the continued service.” The bill will additionally ease the burden and pain put on families of those service men stop-lossed. Sutton said that stop loss put an “unjust burden on soldiers and their families” and undermines the voluntary nature of the military.