U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Speakes says members of the National Guard and Reserves will receive shorter combat tours in the future. Speakes, who is in charge of issues regarding U.S. Army resources, said those in such secondary military forces could soon find their combat tours nearly cut in half, Stars and Stripes reported. At present, troops in either unit are mobilized between 18 and 20 months, but Speakes said such soldiers would likely only spend between seven and 10 months deployed in combat. "We're saying that you will only get between seven and 10 months boots on the ground because we have to spend some of your (post-mobilization) time training you before we deploy you," he said. "How much of that we don't know."
Speakes said those members of the U.S. Reserves and National Guard currently on active duty will not be given the shorter tours until the military force can adequately replace them, the paper said. |