Beginning immediately, all active-duty Army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will serve 15-month tours — three months longer than the usual standard, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.
Marines will continue to serve 7-month rotations and reservists will serve 12 months.
I'd mentioned that we couldn't sustain our forces in Iraq at higher levels for long. This change essentially provides 25% more combat units for the rotation. In the short run, of course. It would be nice if we could shorten rotations to prevent individual troops from building up too much stress from combat. Although keep in mind that most soldiers going to Iraq in a unit returning to Iraq are actually on their first mission to Iraq. The unit remains even as soldiers enter and leave over the years. And keeping home time at one year minimum is a better solution to shortening time at home to keep units in Iraq for one year.
This is prudent. With some luck, we won't need to keep units in Iraq for fifteen months for long. I look at this as much as a signal to our enemies that we will stay until we win as much as a move to sustain the surge.
I had some misgivings about Secretary Gates before he signed on. I now trust he wants to win this war. And that is all that matters to me.
UPDATE: A good press conference on the subject.
