General Casey: Obama's Surge Won't Require Longer Tours, Shorter Leaves

By GottaLaff

No stop loss, no longer tours? Really?

Gen. George W. Casey, the U.S. army's chief of staff, said Wednesday that the military would be able to implement President Obama's surge in Afghanistan without either extending the current length of tours in Iraq or Afghanistan or giving soldiers less time at home with their families between deployments.

He also said that the president's decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan for at least the next 18 months would not require the army to reinstitute an unpopular program known as "stop loss," which prevented soldiers from leaving the army as previously scheduled.

Our troops are so pooped, frayed, suicidal, PTSD'd, drugged, alcoholic'd, stretched to the limit. They need a break.

Hey, I know! Let's stop fighting!

There I go being naive again.

Pentagon to phase out unpopular 'stop-loss' program

One of the best bits of news I've heard in a while. It was nothing more than involuntary servitude.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The military will phase out its "stop loss" program, the contentious practice of holding troops beyond the end of their enlistments, for all but extraordinary situations, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Wednesday.

Instead, the military will use incentives programs to encourage personnel to extend their service.

Starting this month, the department will provide "special compensation of $500 per month" to troops whose tour has been extended, Gates said. "This special compensation will be applied retroactively to October 1, 2008, the date when Congress first made it available."

The stop-loss program was put into place to ensure that units remained intact during deployment. Tours of duty could be extended for those whose enlistment was due to end in the middle of their unit's deployment.