Washington – Stretched by frequent troop rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has become a “thin green line” that could snap unless relief comes soon, according to a study for the Pentagon.
Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer who wrote the report, concluded that the Army cannot sustain the pace of troop deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency. He also suggested that the Pentagon’s decision to begin reducing the force in Iraq this year was driven in part by a realization that the Army was overextended.
As evidence, Krepinevich points to the Army’s 2005 recruiting slump – missing its recruiting goal for the first time since 1999 – and its decision to offer much bigger enlistment bonuses and other incentives.
“You really begin to wonder just how much stress and strain there is on the Army, how much longer it can continue,” he said.
He added that the Army is still a highly effective fighting force and is implementing a plan that will expand the number of combat brigades available.
Illustrating his level of concern about strain on the Army, Krepinevich titled one of his report’s chapters “The Thin Green Line.” He wrote that the Army is “in a race against time” to adjust to the demands of war “or risk ‘breaking’ the force in the form of a catastrophic decline” in recruitment and re-enlistment.
Krepinevich did not conclude that U.S. forces should quit Iraq now, but said it may be possible to reduce troop levels below 100,000 by the end of the year. About 136,000 are there now, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.
