South Bend is heating up over the controversy surrounding Obama and the local bishop...Read the post

2009 College Grads: We're the Lucky Ones

Why there is hope for the graduating Class of 2009, and how they can find work in a recession...Read the post

Beer in Vending Machines -- What Drinking Age?

U.S. policies on drinking age seem restrictive when examining the rest of the world...Read the post

How The Press Can Remain Relevant

Is it any surprise that Obama has employed a strategy to cordon journalists that is similar to previous administrations?...Read the post

Be Afraid, Cheney Warns. Be Very Afraid.

Just when you thought the Bush-era warnings of Armageddon around the corner were over, Cheney strikes again...Read the post

Obama: You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry...

Obama threw down his stick, spat on the floor and growled in the face of cameras -- metaphorically... Read the post

Obama to GOP: 'I Won, I'm The President'

"You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," Obama told GOP leaders...Read the post

Palin Seeks $11M Book Deal, but Can She Read?

One can only imagine what Republican rising star Sarah Palin could possibly write about in her memoirs...Read the post

st. john fisher college

politics

Gates Announces Eventual End to Stop-Loss Policy

Megan Baker

Posted: Mar 18th 2009 9:13PM

Filed under: Politics, St. John Fisher College

Secretary of State Robert Gates announced today that an unpopular program in the Army known as "stop-loss" will be phased out by 2011. As of January, there were 13,217 soldiers affected by the program, which prevents soldiers from leaving military service on time if they were scheduled to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan.

This program was used during Operation Desert Storm and was reinstated after 9/11. Since 9/11, it has interfered with the lives of 120,000 soldiers. Oftentimes known as the "backdoor draft," the purpose of the stop-loss policy is to "maintain continuity in leadership and cohesion within units that trained for and then were deploying to war."

"I felt, particularly in these numbers, that it was breaking faith" to keep soldiers in the service after their end date comes up, Gates said at a Pentagon press conference. "To hold them against their will is just not the right thing to do."

According to Gates, the goal is to reduce the number (13,217) by 50 percent by June 2010 and to bring it down to scores or less by March 2011. Soldiers who have been affected by the stop-loss policy since October of 2008 will be compensated $500 per month of duty.

Gates explained that there were two reasons why the Army is now able to slowly stop using the policy.

First, he said, "We will be drawing down in Iraq, over the next 18 or 19 months, significantly more than we are building up in Afghanistan, in terms of the Army."

Also, recruitment and enlistment went up faster than expected. The service reached its goal of 547,000 already, a goal they weren't expecting to reach until 2012.

Naturally, families and veterans alike are happy about this change in policy.

"The stop-loss policy is one that has been expanded and abused for too long," said Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran and chairman of VoteVets.org. "And it is a significant and positive sign that the president plans to largely end it."

In addition to this, the Army will pay for families to travel to Dover to be there when their fallen family member's remains arrive in the states. This new policy will now allow the media to record the return of fallen troops, something the Pentagon has prevented the media from doing since 1989.