U.S. may run out of reserve troops in a year

[leftchick]

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/news/ci_2535489

WASHINGTON — At the current pace of U.S. deployments to Iraq, the Pentagon may be hard-pressed by next year to provide enough reserve combat troops suitable for the mission, judging from the military services own estimates of available manpower.

The notion of running out of reserve troops would have been dismissed only a year ago, but the strain of fighting a longer, harder war than U.S. commanders foresaw is taking a heavy toll on part-time troops of the Army National Guard, Army Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve.

The problem may ease if, as the Bush administration hopes, security in Iraq improves substantially this year as more U.S.-trained Iraqi troops join the fight against the insurgency. But few inside the Army think they can count on such an optimistic scenario.

Of the 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq now, nearly 50 percent are from the Guard and Reserve.

[Moderator]

1. duplicate topic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1178329