More "Professional" Press Coverage of the Military

PENTAGON STRUGGLES TO FIND FRESH TROOPS

WASHINGTON - Military leaders are struggling to choose Army units to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan longer or go there earlier than planned, but five years of war have made fresh troops harder to find.

Yes, the military is stressed and the op tempo in many units is very high. But what does the AP offer as proof of this?:

The likely result will be extending the deployments of brigades scheduled to come home at the end of the summer, and sending others earlier than scheduled.

You mean, as part of the surge that is essentially the delayed return of some and the expedited deployment of others? This method of creating the surge has nothing to do with "freshness" of troops, but everything to do with logistics. To quickly increase battlefield numbers is impossible any other way, as only those scheduled to deploy soon would be at a point in their cycle to be ready for deployment!

Final decisions — which have not yet been made — would come as Congress is considering ways to force President Bush to wind down the war, despite his vow that he would veto such legislation.

Didn't I say something about a "slow bleed?" Interesting how they instantly connect the surge to efforts to attempts to "wind down the war" (another word for concede) and say "congress" as if there is a unanimity of opinion among congress members. If there were, we'd already have an "out of Iraq" resolution on President Bush's desk.

In the freshest indication of the relentless demands for troops in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, commander of coalition forces in the north, told reporters Friday that his troops have picked up the pace of their attacks on the enemy in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad.

"Could I use more forces? No question about it," Mixon said, adding that he had asked for more.

The top U.S. military commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, said a day earlier that it was likely that additional U.S. forces will be shifted to areas outside the capital where militants are regrouping, including Diyala. The region has become an increasingly important staging ground for militant groups, including al-Qaida in Iraq.

And here we come again upon the reporter's lack of understanding about the military. Mixon is not talking about bringing more troops into the Iraqi war theater (that would take months); he's talking about shifting those already in place in order to meet a changing battlescape. Basic battlefield maneuvering.

"There have been about 30 percent more offensive actions and attacks. Many of those are initiated by us; some are initiated by them," Petraeus said from a military base outside of Tikrit. "I am cautiously optimistic that in the next 30 to 60 days that we're going to see some significant differences in the security situation in Diyala."

Aha! This must be what the AP was talking about the other day with the headline "U.S.: Iraqi insurgent attacks intensifying" that wasn't addressed in the actual article about Patraeus' comments. Imagine that!: Engaging the enemy inspires a reaction! But what matters at the end is not how many times the enemy attacked, but who was left standing. Wow. Seriously unbalanced reporting.

If not, he said, he'll go back and ask for still more support.

Petraeus said Thursday that the U.S. buildup in Iraq would need to be sustained "for some time well beyond the summer" to garner the needed results.

Another symptom of "fast food culture" applied to war. "Why doesn't everything go exactly to plan? Why can't we have this wrapped up in 3 or 4 months?!!!" Short answer: because the enemy gets a vote and he's not gonna give up easily.

Maintaining increased troop levels, said military officials, will require troops to return for what could be their second or third tours in Iraq or Afghanistan, and force military leaders to juggle the schedules to give soldiers a full 12 months at home before returning to battle.

Really? Logistics and scheduling amidst conflicting demands and the shifting of strategy are a part of warfighting?! /sarcasm

The officials would speak only on condition of anonymity, because no final decisions have been made and no formal requests for the forces have come from commanders in Iraq. But they said it is beginning to appear likely that Petraeus will ask to maintain much of the buildup at least through the end of the year, and possibly into 2008.

Let's focus in on that italicized phrase. In other words, all that has come before this is based on conjecture, contingency planning among military leadership, and anonymous sources. Nice.

There's more, but I'll end with this:

Combat troops, meanwhile, are coming to realize that the Pentagon can't fulfill its commitment to give soldiers two years at home for every year they spend deployed.

At Fort Drum, N.Y., the 1st Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division is already training for a return to Iraq this summer. The brigade, which spent a year in Iraq and got home last summer, is not yet on any official list of units scheduled to deploy, but it's likely to go in late summer.

"It's prudent planning for us to be prepared to go back in a year," said Fort Drum spokesman Ben Abel.

The military and its personnel and materiel are stretched and challenged by the OPTEMPO, but after all that discussion and hand-wringing, the reporter can only come up with a unit that isn't officially scheduled to deploy, but simply--in typical military fashion--is preparing just in case.

I've said it before, but I'm once again reminded: Though an amateur, I'd probably make a better military affairs reporter than at least half the people out there today. Pathetic.

You can read the rest here.