Pentagon cuts stop-loss

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is ordering military service chiefs to reduce the use of a controversial policy intended to keep troops in war zones beyond the end of their original commitments, according to a document obtained by The Hill.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is ordering military service chiefs to reduce the use of a controversial policy intended to keep troops in war zones beyond the end of their original commitments, according to a document obtained by The Hill.

In a memo sent to the service chiefs, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and undersecretaries of defense, Gates asked to see plans to minimize the use of the so-called stop-loss policy for active duty and reserve components by the end of next month.

Gates’s directive comes at a time when the White House’s plan to increase the number of  troops in Iraq by 21,500 is coming under intense criticism on both sides of the aisle, in part because it would extend the tours of duty of troops already on the ground and trigger stop-loss orders.

“They’re extending and stop-lossing people in the country [Iraq] themselves,” Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House defense appropriations committee and an outspoken critic of the White House’s Iraq strategy, said on MSNBC earlier this month.  “And it is very unpopular, even with the troops themselves, when they don’t understand the mission.”

Several House Republicans sent a letter to Gates last week asking that members of the National Guard and Reserve not be kept on active duty beyond their original commitment.

“The stop-loss program is, in essence, a hidden draft,” said Rep. Randy Kuhl (R-N.Y.), one of the members who wrote to Gates.

The letter to Gates also says that the Pentagon’s use of stop-loss “betrays [soldiers’] trust, separates families and threatens to devastate the likelihood that active-duty soldiers will follow up their service with time serving in the reserves.”

Reps. Christopher Shays (Conn.), Steven LaTourette (Ohio) and Jim Ramstad (Minn.) also signed the letter to Gates.

A stop-loss order for National Guard and Reserve units activated for the war against terrorism has been in effect since November 2002. The policy allows the Pentagon to keep soldiers whose enlistment is due to expire in order to maintain troop strength and unit integrity.

Specifically, the president may suspend any provision of law relating to promotion, retirement, or separation applicable to any member of the armed forces whom the president determines is essential to the national security of the United States.

But the policy has attracted a myriad of lawsuits from reservists who have argued that the policy illegally makes them stay in the military once their required term of service is complete.

The Pentagon has successfully argued that under federal law it can extend the deployment of any reserve officer who is on active duty, if the president believes doing so is essential to national security.

For the Pentagon, stop-loss orders are a tool to stem a large reduction of personnel and maximize cohesion and experience for units fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gates’s directive to reduce the use of stop-loss is part of a wider initiative to change deployment policies for reserve forces and the use of the so-called total force, which encompasses both active and reserve units.

In the memo, Gates outlines the changes to the deployment of reserve and active forces, which he first announced the day after Bush announced his new Iraq strategy.

Members of the reserve forces will have an involuntary deployment time for one year, followed by five years on their home bases.

But there may be some exceptions to that policy.

“Today’s global demands will require a number of selected Guard/Reserve to be remobilized sooner than this standard,” Gates wrote. “Our intention is that such be temporary.”

However, he urged the services to plan their force structure based on a one-year deployment time and five years of demobilization.

Meanwhile, ground combat and combat support will be managed on a unit basis. “This will allow greater cohesion and predictability in how these Reserve units train and deploy,” Gates said. “Exceptions will require my approval.”

Active-duty forces will deploy for one year at a time and will spend two years at their home bases, according to Gates. Currently most active units deploy for one year and spend just one year at their home bases, after which they immediately deploy again.

For those in the active and reserve force who have to deploy earlier and often, or have to extend their tours beyond the rotation policy, Gates is planning to establish a compensation and incentives program, according to the memo.

The Pentagon chief is also directing all commands and units to review how they administer a so-called hardship waiver program to ensure that they are properly taking into account exceptional circumstances facing military families of deployed service members.