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American Morning

Thinning U.S. Military Ranks?

Aired July 18, 2003 - 07:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: While President Bush and Prime Minister Blair defend their decision to go to war, a post-war reality is setting in for U.S. troops in Iraq. Tens of thousands of soldiers are facing longer deployments because of regular violent attacks. More than 145,000 Americans are now in Iraq, and there are growing concerns that U.S. military might be spread too thin.
Joining us this morning from Washington, D.C. is retired Army Lieutenant Dan Christman.

Good morning. Nice to see -- Lieutenant General, forgive me, Dan Christman.

LT. GEN. DAN CHRISTMAN, U.S. ARMY (RET.): No problem, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: I don't want to shorten that important title there. Thanks for joining us this morning.

CHRISTMAN: Thank you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Let's first talk about predictability. How critical do you think predictability in the field for the soldiers who are there about when they will be returning home is?

CHRISTMAN: It's huge. I think it's far more important than the number of weeks or months that a deployment pattern consists of. I spent in my first five years in the military, Soledad, two hardship tours overseas -- one 13 months, one 12 months. In each case, I could predict, I knew with certainty the date, even the hour that I was going to return. My wife, Susan (ph), for example, could plan on her schedule. She could teach school for a year. That's the most important thing it seems to me in terms of morale is the rotation pattern to set up, that will help significantly in alleviating some of the morale concerns that we see.

O'BRIEN: The length of the deployment, you think, is not as important as just knowing when your out date is?

CHRISTMAN: Absolutely. I think the key is that certainty of a return, to be able to pick a date and to plan your life and the life of one spouse around that. I think the other thing, too, Soledad, here is that the Pentagon has got to balance, and they are I think, in their considerations here. What's happening in country? The important factor here is some continuity, so the troops in country can work with, interact, engage shopkeepers, imams, clerics, those take time to develop, and it cannot be a short tour -- three to four months. It needs to be longer, so that those engagements are productive.

O'BRIEN: So, you're saying because a lot of the rebuilding of Iraq will rely on relationships, personal relationships, between some level of the military and the mullahs and the clerics and the shopkeepers that you talk about, consistency is critical.

CHRISTMAN: No, absolutely. And I think that cannot be done in three to five months. My sensing is that the rotation here that we're talking about is probably going to be nine to 12 months, perhaps even longer. That's what's necessary, it seems to me, in this kind of international engagement -- Iraq and elsewhere.

But, again, I come back to the point, Soledad, that the troops know that they're going to be back on 15 December or 12 February or whatever. That's far more fundamental than the issue of how short or long the actual rotation happens to be.

O'BRIEN: Let's take a look at some of the conflicts where U.S. troops are right now and may be in the near future. Iraq, obviously. But also we're thinking about Liberia, we're thinking about potentially North Korea down the road. Do you think the U.S. troops are spread too thin?

CHRISTMAN: Soledad, the fabric of this wonderful military is stretched. It's taught, but the threads have not yet broken. I think these decisions in the coming weeks on the rotation pattern, whether we can get international troops with greater numbers of them in theater to help the U.S., and this important issue of Korea, which you highlight, I think puts this in sharp contrast.

Our army now has about a quarter, perhaps a third, of its combat strength reserved for that important contingency. The Pentagon has got the balance taking some troops from that reserve and applying it to Iraq, if necessary. There are very, very few troops now to go around to handle these, and that balancing act is most difficult.

O'BRIEN: Lieutenant General Dan Christman, thanks for joining us this morning. We sure appreciate it.

CHRISTMAN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired July 18, 2003 - 07:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: While President Bush and Prime Minister Blair defend their decision to go to war, a post-war reality is setting in for U.S. troops in Iraq. Tens of thousands of soldiers are facing longer deployments because of regular violent attacks. More than 145,000 Americans are now in Iraq, and there are growing concerns that U.S. military might be spread too thin.
Joining us this morning from Washington, D.C. is retired Army Lieutenant Dan Christman.

Good morning. Nice to see -- Lieutenant General, forgive me, Dan Christman.

LT. GEN. DAN CHRISTMAN, U.S. ARMY (RET.): No problem, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: I don't want to shorten that important title there. Thanks for joining us this morning.

CHRISTMAN: Thank you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Let's first talk about predictability. How critical do you think predictability in the field for the soldiers who are there about when they will be returning home is?

CHRISTMAN: It's huge. I think it's far more important than the number of weeks or months that a deployment pattern consists of. I spent in my first five years in the military, Soledad, two hardship tours overseas -- one 13 months, one 12 months. In each case, I could predict, I knew with certainty the date, even the hour that I was going to return. My wife, Susan (ph), for example, could plan on her schedule. She could teach school for a year. That's the most important thing it seems to me in terms of morale is the rotation pattern to set up, that will help significantly in alleviating some of the morale concerns that we see.

O'BRIEN: The length of the deployment, you think, is not as important as just knowing when your out date is?

CHRISTMAN: Absolutely. I think the key is that certainty of a return, to be able to pick a date and to plan your life and the life of one spouse around that. I think the other thing, too, Soledad, here is that the Pentagon has got to balance, and they are I think, in their considerations here. What's happening in country? The important factor here is some continuity, so the troops in country can work with, interact, engage shopkeepers, imams, clerics, those take time to develop, and it cannot be a short tour -- three to four months. It needs to be longer, so that those engagements are productive.

O'BRIEN: So, you're saying because a lot of the rebuilding of Iraq will rely on relationships, personal relationships, between some level of the military and the mullahs and the clerics and the shopkeepers that you talk about, consistency is critical.

CHRISTMAN: No, absolutely. And I think that cannot be done in three to five months. My sensing is that the rotation here that we're talking about is probably going to be nine to 12 months, perhaps even longer. That's what's necessary, it seems to me, in this kind of international engagement -- Iraq and elsewhere.

But, again, I come back to the point, Soledad, that the troops know that they're going to be back on 15 December or 12 February or whatever. That's far more fundamental than the issue of how short or long the actual rotation happens to be.

O'BRIEN: Let's take a look at some of the conflicts where U.S. troops are right now and may be in the near future. Iraq, obviously. But also we're thinking about Liberia, we're thinking about potentially North Korea down the road. Do you think the U.S. troops are spread too thin?

CHRISTMAN: Soledad, the fabric of this wonderful military is stretched. It's taught, but the threads have not yet broken. I think these decisions in the coming weeks on the rotation pattern, whether we can get international troops with greater numbers of them in theater to help the U.S., and this important issue of Korea, which you highlight, I think puts this in sharp contrast.

Our army now has about a quarter, perhaps a third, of its combat strength reserved for that important contingency. The Pentagon has got the balance taking some troops from that reserve and applying it to Iraq, if necessary. There are very, very few troops now to go around to handle these, and that balancing act is most difficult.

O'BRIEN: Lieutenant General Dan Christman, thanks for joining us this morning. We sure appreciate it.

CHRISTMAN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.