COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Leaving Military: Stop-Loss
Army to keep forcibly re-enlisting soldiers
Associated Press
Oct 18, 2007
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Army will continue to rely on an unpopular
program that forces some soldiers to stay on beyond their retirement
or re-enlistment dates, despite repeated pressure from Defense
Secretary Robert Gates to reduce and eventually eliminate the practice.
Lt. Gen. Michael Rochelle, deputy chief of staff for personnel, said
Thursday that the number of soldiers kept on duty has actually
increased in recent months as a result of President Bush's orders to
increase troop levels in Iraq this year to help quell the violence.
The number of those being kept on beyond their commitment through a
program known as "stop loss" is about 9,000 now, compared to about
7,000 before the troop buildup began in late January, he said.
"Until there is some reduction in the demand, we're going to have to
rely, unfortunately ... on stop loss," Rochelle told reporters.
"Until the demand comes down a bit, we can't do it without it."
As recently as last month, Gates sent a memo to Army Secretary Pete
Geren asking for quarterly progress reports on "reducing and
ultimately eliminating the use of stop-loss as soon as feasible."
Rochelle added that when the expected withdrawal of troops from Iraq
begins, the Army's reliance on the program will eventually decline.
In other remarks, Rochelle also suggested that the Army will only be
able to increase its numbers by about 4,000 in the next year a
fraction of the 35,000 boost that Pentagon and Army leaders have set
as a goal by 2010.
He said the Army will rely largely on two relatively new recruitment
programs that would reward current active duty soldiers and National
Guard soldiers who successfully bring in new people.
Other than those new efforts, the basic recruitment and retention
goals for 2008 will stay the same as 2007, at 80,000 and 65,000
respectively, he said.
That, he said, reflects the "realistic view on how challenging it is
at this point in time" to increase the size of the Army.
The Guard program, which only just began, has already garnered 25
recruits and there are 100 in the pipeline, Rochelle said, adding
that the effort could bring in as many as 3,000 in 2008.
He said the Army is likely to continue increasing the financial,
educational and other incentives to keep soldiers in the service. He
declined to detail the costs of the incentives, or how much that
might increase next year.
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