Sorry we don't have 45K more troops right now. So the army has no choice but to roll out reservists and NG for 2nd tours.
Rumsfeld's legacy will be that he left us with an undermanned and underequipped military to fight the War on Terrorism. And it won't be cheap rebuilding that force to fighting strength either.
Army officials have been talking privately for months about the need to send guard and reserve units for second tours. But Schoomaker's remarks were the most forceful public presentation yet about the need to tap the reserves further.
Typically reservists must be mobilized for at least 18 months in order to serve in Iraq: six months to train and a year to serve in the war zone. Under current practice, the National Guard and reserves can be mobilized for only a single tour in Iraq. But Schoomaker said almost all of the reserve units had been called once since Sept. 11, 2001.
In early 2005, about 40% of the force in Iraq was made up of Guard troops and reserves. But because numerous soldiers and units have been mobilized, the Army has had to fill out units with volunteers from across the country who are willing to serve a second tour.
The Army wants to be able to send units to Iraq that have trained together, even if some of their members have already served an overseas tour.
"In my view we must deploy our force in cohesive units, not as individual soldiers," Schoomaker said. "This will require us to remobilize units and reserve component soldiers."
Army officials believe under the law they are allowed to remobilize reservists for a second tour.
Top Pentagon officials have not yet allowed such involuntary remobilizations, but the policy is being examined by the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves.
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