'We've All Been Anticipating It'
April 11, 2007 — -- Military personnel and their families are reacting to the news that the Pentagon is expected to extend the tours of duty for every active-duty soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan from the current 12 months to 15 months. This will apply to all active-duty soldiers but not to the National Guard and Reserve.
The Joint Chiefs chairman acknowledged the move won't be easy on the soldiers and their families, and some have expressed their reactions in e-mails to ABC News. The following is a collection of these reactions. What's your response? Click here to post your thoughts.
I think its no surprise -- we've all been anticipating it, honestly. Once they started extending units already in place -- starting with the Stryker guys out of Alaska last year -- and what they've been doing to the National Guardsmen for a couple of years now -- most of my friends and many of my soldiers have been anticipating (dreading) this for months.
I personally believe its an underhanded way of enlarging the "surge" without having to go through Congress. It's this administration's way -- like the recess appointments of ambassadors.
How will it be received? It will even further alienate the commander in chief from the soldiers and Marines in his charge and further weaken a nearly broken military. When do we refit? When do we rebuild? This is a nightmare, to be sure, but we've been waiting for it like the inevitable train wreck it is. -- anonymous
Twelve months is hard enough. Missing two Christmases -- or two Thanksgivings, or two Fourths of July -- is almost asking more than we have a right to ask of an all-volunteer force. -- from a soldier who has served one year in Iraq.
Although the ramifications of extending the tours is most traumatic to the family, I (and I think 80 percent at least of other soldiers would agree with this) believe that this is a fight that we can and must win. If given the choice between losing with shorter tours and winning with longer tours, I would be willing to stay longer.
I know that you feel this when you are with soldiers -- they wholeheartedly believe that we can win the war. Furthermore, most feel like we are doing fairly well, albeit we have made mistakes. Additionally, I think that the services understand that this was never going to be a short war -- after all, we all calling this "The Long War."
