By LEE WILLIAMS
A testament to the fighting spirit of many in our military is their inability to say “no.”
From young 11Bs to seasoned JSOC operators, most professional soldiers would never refuse a combat deployment even if they could, and they can’t.
After all, they want to go forth as their forefathers have always done, believe in the mission and shoot bad guys — regardless of the number of times they’ve been in harm’s way or the toll it’s taken on them physically and mentally.
That’s why we cannot leave the decision up to them or anyone in their chain-of-command.
In my humble opinion, the DoD needs to limit the number of combat deployments our troops can face, for all branches of the service.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’ deploy-or-get-out rule is the exact opposite of the position our military should take. We should limit combat deployments, not add more names to deployable-status rolls.
We’re exposing young men and women to far too much combat — hence the skyrocketing suicide rates and staggering amount of PTSD and TBI cases among active duty troops and veterans.
More than 20 kill themselves every single day.
Too many of our best troops have already done enough — too much, if you ask me. It’s time to recognize that and put a stop to it. It’s time to re-prioritize our missions. It’s time to put the troops’ welfare first.
I have friends and acquaintances who have more than a dozen combat deployments — one has 18 — and sadly that’s becoming the norm. Quite frankly, that’s too much to ask of anyone. It needs to stop while there’s still something human left of them. No one was built to handle that much running-and-gunning time.
Once they’ve reached X number of deployments — and the X-factor should be determined based upon the service member’s unit and MOS — they should be barred from ever seeing a war zone again. The rule needs to come from the top, and there should be no waivers accepted and no questions asked. Sorry, you can’t go.
If the DoD suddenly had fewer troops to send to the conflicts cropping up around the world, maybe there were be fewer conflicts cropping up around the world, or maybe our allies would finally be forced to send more of their troops.
Too simplistic you say?
Mea culpa.
It needed to be said, because the military is already showing signs that it’s close to breaking.
Currently, the Army is offering up to $90,000 in reenlistment bonuses for Special Forces and other specialties.
What does that tell you?
And just three days ago, the Army announced it failed to meet its recruiting goal of 76,500 new recruits for FY 2018. This is the first time in 13 years the Army has failed to meet this goal. The last time, in 2005, was during the height of the Iraq War.
Pentagon officials blamed the country’s robust economy for the failure, but I believe the problem goes far beyond that.
I think the word’s out; we’re asking far too much of our young men and women.
After all, this country has been on a constant war-footing for more than 18 years, and it shows no sign of abating.
It’s time to lobby our lawmakers to force the Pentagon to make this change, while we still have a military left.
