Potentially worse, is that Army leadership has been counting on Congressional intervention to solve their manning problems for them. Congressional blustering over Iraq funding, may have given the Army leadership the false hope that a Congressional timeline would solve their manpower mismanagement issues for them; before they manifested themselves as the failures they are. With Presidential vetoes threatening any calendar driven withdrawals; the Army is now forced to come to grips with their planning and manning deficiencies.

The drastic action that the Army took today is the result of a lack of vision and direction from within the Army, from its civilian staff on down. The Army should have been pro-actively implementing strategies that gave individuals and combat units reasonable respites from combat, and provided adequate opportunities to re-man, re-fit and retrain, prior to returning to combat. Not only are fifteen month tours too long, but one year respites are far too short.

Army leadership has failed at its primary function…developing sustainable force structures and deployment schemes that are capable of supplying combat ready forces uninterrupted out into the future. Their failure is even starker when compared to their Marine brethren who have demonstrated a capacity to sustain combat operations with seven month rotations into the combat zones. Meeting force requirements is the leading purpose in life for staff officers, and the Army staff is showing no aptitude for it.

Today's announcements will have sent devastating shock waves through the Army's deployed units, and across their base housing units. While the Army and Marine troops deployed in the field have earned the trust and respect of the country, the competency of the military leadership in the Pentagon, specifically the Army through these tour extensions, is rightfully called into question. It seems that the failings of those in the comfortable surroundings in the Pentagon are being covered by onerous dictums that are not sustainable out into the future.

Move Army HQ to Iraq for fifteen months, it would likely generate better solutions than calling on those who have served this nation so well, to work harder.