Are we losing with stop loss?

Stop Loss has always been an interesting concept to me. I was subjected to stop loss at different points of my career with the Army Reserve. The stop loss was sometimes formalized by a message send out by DA that covered entire career fields or functional areas or specific units. More often, however there was a stop loss policy imposed by local commands to hold soldiers that may be needed on a wholesale basis. These stop loss programs involve the delay of outprocessing documents, created red tape for transfers from the reserves for unsatisfactory participants and generally held soldiers as long as possible.

Frankly the fact that I served more than 20 years and was deployed to Iraq was due to my own delayed departure in part as a result of decisions made related to timing when I could leave the Army without a lot of hassle. Ask any soldier that has trasferred to the IRR, between Guard and Reserve or other transfer and you will get stories of a process that is designed to slow down your exit, even when you are no longer obligated to serve.

Based on that I read some of the statistics on the Army’s current Stop loss rates and see they are again increasing (the formal stop loss that is) The number of soldiers held in the Army under the stop-loss program reached a high in March 2005 of 15,758. That number steadily declined through May 2007, when it hit 8,540. But since then, the number of soldiers subjected to stop-loss orders began to increase again, reaching 12,235 in March 2008.

The Secretary of the Army said

"They don't like it any better than I do. But it has proven necessary in order to maintain the force," Gates said. … use of the policy is an issue. It troubles me." "When somebody expects to leave at a given time, and you tell them they can't do that, it's got to have an impact on them. And that's the part that troubles me"

While I understand the necessity of retaining soldiers at critical times, I would echo the sentiment that we still break contracts with soldiers in terms of requirements. The carte-blache approach to applying stop loss both formal and informally shoud stop and we should examine each individual case – all 15,758 of them to determine if we must disrupt that soldier’s life. I would bet there are both volunteers and other soldiers that have not been deployed that can fulfill many of the requirements. We cannot allow leaders to apply organization wide policies that void contracts with soldiers… if it must be done it should be a highy deliberate face to face decision. Any leader worth his salt that cares about soldiers would insist upon a process that does so.

Continued organizational disregard for the shared committment to service contract which is expected and delivered only by the soldier will not serve the Army in the future.

My Baby is a soldier - update

My daughter is assigned to a Army Reserve Military Police Battalion and has been training for two months in preparation for deployment. I wrote about my daughter’s progress through the training process before and I remain in marvel of the system that transformed my little Girl into a soldier.

We recently had 4 days with her during a Pass from the training (in fact the training is completed) She was picked up from the Barracks that served as one of her temporary homes at the training installation. Most of the training tour period was spend in tents in January and February in the field locations to maximize the training realism of conditions that would be faced over the next year. (probably really because of a lack of space at Ft. Dix which if anyone remembers was BRACed years ago and scheduled to close) As before the unit has a strong sense of efficiency, team atmosphere, competence and determination.

During the 4 days she did the normal 19 Year old type of things, trips to the mall although she didn’t want to purchase much as she would be able to use or wear it for another 10 months. A little bit of networking with friends and sleeping in at home. At the end of 4 days she was ready to return to her new family – her team to get started on the task at hand.

The unit will be departing for overseas shortly with the task of conducting its mission in Iraq. She will be part of an effort often in the shadows for many … including her peers from high school who still worry about fashion, what is in and out and where is the next party. I sense that she knows that it takes silent patriots, like her, to preserve that way of life for her friends. Like many that have served in OIF, she makes up the vanguard of today’s Army quiet heroes.

Combat Lifesaver Training

The combat lifesaver (CL) is a nonmedical Soldier trained to provide emergency care as a secondary mission. Each squad and crew should have at least one member trained to be a Combat Lifesaver. Most organizations train all assigned soldeirs to be combat lifesavers.

The following is extracted from Army Regulation 350-1 , Army Training and Education , 9 April 2003 .

… Immediate, far-forward medical care is essential on a widely dispersed and fluid battlefield to prevent soldiers from dying of wounds. Medical personnel may not be able to reach and apply lifesaving measures to all wounded soldiers in a timely manner. The combat lifesaver is a nonmedical soldier trained to provide lifesaving measures beyond the level of self-aid or buddy-aid. A properly trained combat lifesaver is capable of stabilizing many types of casualties and can slow the deterioration of a wounded soldier’s condition until medical personnel arrive. Functioning as a combat lifesaver is a secondary mission undertaken when the tactical situation permits.

The Army has added Combat Lifesaver training for most soldiers deploying including the soldier that appears in the picture above. The skills include Casualty Excavation, Airway Management, Chest Injury management, Controlling Bleeding, IV therapy (as seen here) and requesting Medical Evacuation.

From the response I received from the soldier pictured, it is a sobering training event that reinforces the reality that the soldiers are deploying to a hostile environment. The initiative to train soldiers in combat lifesaver skills is beneficial in the end as lives are saved.

To me the picture and knowledge of the training are indicators of the difference in the lives of soldiers and civilians. The 19 Year old soldier in the picture has friends that are most concerned with Shopping Mall sales, clothes and material things while the young soldier must learn how to save a life in a combat zone. The dichotomy between lives for todays soldiers, especially citizen soldiers has never been so significant as it is today.

5th Deployment or bust?

If you read the accounts - Army Reserve Sgt. Erik Botta has been sent to Iraq three times and to Afghanistan once and he is going to court because he thinks that's enough.

"This has nothing to do with protest of the war ... I have nothing but respect for the people on the ground," Botta said Friday, one day after he filed his petition in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach. "But I feel I do need a fair decision and a fair review." Botta , 26, of Port St. Lucie, contends in his petition that the Army's refusal to exempt him from deployment "constitutes unlawful custody." Botta argues the Army did not consider the length and nature of his previous tours "to assure a sharing of exposure to the hazards of combat."

Sounds pretty daunting for the Army dosen’t it – 5 deployments for this soldier – but wait a minute…. I had to ask how long were the deployments – after all not all are equal in terms of sacrifice…

Botta was deployed to Afghanistan for about seven months in 2002. He then had three deployments to Iraq - about a month in 2003, three months in 2004 and 15 days later that year. That is a grand total of 10 months boots on the ground. Frankly two of the tours to Iraq are about equal to an annual training cycle for reserve soldiers….

Most Army Reserve and National Guard units deploy for 12-15 months consecutively to a combat theater – while I applaud Sgt Botta’s service, he has not done the share that many Reserve and Guard soldiers have in extended deployment. His argument for educational deferment I can see – till the end of the Semester. Many serve as required – with similar issues – it’s a sacrifice to be a soldier – Erik – you haven’t had it all that bad.