Pentagon Records Show Stop Loss Use on Rise

As the United States military sent more troops to Afghanistan and Iraq last year to counter stubborn insurgencies in both theaters, the Army began to rely more on its controversial "stop loss" policy to fill the need for soldiers. Under orders from Defense Secretary Robert Gates to minimize the use of stop loss, the Army reduced the number of soldiers so ordered to its lowest level in three years by May of 2007. But as the troop surge into Iraq picked up steam, and the Pentagon planned to send additional units to Afghanistan, the Army began to increase that number, driving it up 43% in the last year.

Stop loss is a policy whereby a soldier may have his service commitment extended for military need or necessity. Soldiers' families are particularly burdened by the policy, as they never know when their loved ones will return from duty. The Pentagon acknowledged those concerns in a statement, but stressed the need to maintain unit cohesion and complete the mission as valid reasons for the extensions.

"Secretary Gates understands the hardship stop loss poses to our troops and their families, but he also understands the need to maintain cohesive units on the battlefield throughout deployment. Troops who have trained together and fought together should remain together."

Stop loss is no more popular in Congress. Liberal Republican Chris Shays (R-CT) sent a letter to Secretary Gates recently requesting that he do "everything possible" to limit use of the policy. Shays said that in addition to being damaging to troops families, stop loss hurt morale, damaged the military's credibility, and could potentially impact recruiting.

In the all-volunteer Army, soldiers sign a service contract that spells out their commitment to the military. Contracts are generally eight years in duration, with four years on active duty, and four years on reserve. At the height of the post-war occupation of Iraq, some soldiers were being called back to active duty after their four-year commitments had run out. In past wars, when the U.S. had a draft, soldiers could be enlisted for the duration of the conflict. There were no 15-month deployments during World War II, for example.

Still, the Pentagon should do everything possible to minimize the impact of the wars on the troops without jeopardizing the mission. President Bush recently announced his intention to shorten tours from the current 15 months to 12 months after August of this year. That is a positive step. But the military, as well as the American public, must be prepared to do whatever it takes to complete missions it starts, wherever they are in the world. This means striking a delicate balance between the troops and the objective of their deployments; and it may mean continuing to extend tours for as long as it takes to win.