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American Morning
Military Orders Soldiers Who Come Home From Active Duty Cannot Leave Service For 90 Days
Aired January 06, 2004 - 07:35 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: Well, the U.S. Army reportedly is overhauling its basic training to help recruits survive the dangers of missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. "USA Today" reports that the changes will add or beef up instruction on skills including traveling in convoys and fighting in cities. It comes as the Army plans to make other changes regarding soldiers coming home from their deployment in Iraq.
Barbara Starr live for us at the Pentagon this morning with more -- Barbara, good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.
Well, with the military already stretched thin in Iraq and Afghanistan, that Army wants to make sure it can hold onto the soldiers it has just a little while longer. So, indeed, they have issued something called a stop loss order. What does this mean? This means soldiers now on deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan, once they finish their one year tour of duty and come home, they can't get out of the military if they want to. They still have to stay up to 90 more days on active duty.
Now, this order will cover most of the 130,000 troops now in Iraq. But only about 7,000 of them are really scheduled for potential retirement.
Why is the Army doing this?
Well, the Army, again, wants to hold onto these soldiers. Their concerned, Soledad, is once these soldiers come home from this very long deployment, they may make a mad rush for the door, so to speak. In other words, a lot of them may put in for retirement, may try and get out. And that may leave some fighting units virtual skeletons. So they want to hold onto them at least for 90 more days, get in new recruits and then let people retire.
There's a lot of concern about this, whether or not there really is going to be that mad dash for the door. A lot of concern especially amongst the National Guard and Reservists, the weekend warriors who really never expected to be on deployment so long -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon this morning.
Barbara, 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
Cannot Leave Service For 90 Days>
Aired January 6, 2004 - 07:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the U.S. Army reportedly is overhauling its basic training to help recruits survive the dangers of missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. "USA Today" reports that the changes will add or beef up instruction on skills including traveling in convoys and fighting in cities. It comes as the Army plans to make other changes regarding soldiers coming home from their deployment in Iraq.
Barbara Starr live for us at the Pentagon this morning with more -- Barbara, good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.
Well, with the military already stretched thin in Iraq and Afghanistan, that Army wants to make sure it can hold onto the soldiers it has just a little while longer. So, indeed, they have issued something called a stop loss order. What does this mean? This means soldiers now on deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan, once they finish their one year tour of duty and come home, they can't get out of the military if they want to. They still have to stay up to 90 more days on active duty.
Now, this order will cover most of the 130,000 troops now in Iraq. But only about 7,000 of them are really scheduled for potential retirement.
Why is the Army doing this?
Well, the Army, again, wants to hold onto these soldiers. Their concerned, Soledad, is once these soldiers come home from this very long deployment, they may make a mad rush for the door, so to speak. In other words, a lot of them may put in for retirement, may try and get out. And that may leave some fighting units virtual skeletons. So they want to hold onto them at least for 90 more days, get in new recruits and then let people retire.
There's a lot of concern about this, whether or not there really is going to be that mad dash for the door. A lot of concern especially amongst the National Guard and Reservists, the weekend warriors who really never expected to be on deployment so long -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon this morning.
Barbara, 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
Cannot Leave Service For 90 Days>
