Posted on: Monday, October 11, 2004

By Tom Philpott

To ease fears fueled by the Internet that the Bush administration has secret plans to reinstitute a military draft after the Nov. 2 election, House Republican leaders forced a floor vote on the issue Oct. 5, then watched with satisfaction as colleagues rejected the idea, 402-2.

"The administration ... the Department of Defense ... the House of Representatives clearly reject ... returning to military conscription," said Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., who as chairman of the military personnel subcommittee served as floor manager for a bill he opposed.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y, had introduced HR 163 in January 2003 as U.S. forces gathered on the borders of Iraq. Rangel wanted to underscore the burden of a pre-emptive war on volunteers, a disproportionate number of whom, he argued, are racial minorities or from lower-income families.

If more American families had "kids going off to war," Rangel said at the time, the president would be more reluctant to start one.

Army officials, meanwhile, have confirmed that wartime demands prevent the service from shortening yearlong tours of duty, for now, for soldiers sent to Iraq and Afghanistan, even with 147,000 Army National Guard and Reserve forces still mobilized to support those wars.

"The Army, after doing its analysis, is looking at the possibility of doing less than 12-month tours, but that's not something that can be done right now," said Lt. Col. Gerard Healy, an Army spokesman. "And it's not really anticipated to be happening anytime soon."

The next rotation of soldiers into Iraq, set to occur January through April, will stay at 12-month tours, Healy said. Developments that could shorten future tours, he said, include a slowdown in the pace of operations, more non-U.S. coalition forces or "greater participation by Iraqi forces" in securing their own country. Until some of that occurs, he said, the Army must stay with "12-month boots-on-the-ground rotations."

Last month, before Army audiences, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had difficulty explaining why soldiers serve yearlong combat tours and Marines face only seven-month rotations.

"I say to myself, 'That doesn't make a lot of sense,' " Rumsfeld conceded to soldiers Sept. 14 during a visit to Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

"The Marines argue vigorously that they have many more younger people who come in, serve (an enlistment) and leave. (So) their rotation rhythm is they can get seven months and then have those people go back and end up with 14 months" total deployment. In contrast, during their first enlistments, soldiers typically will serve only 12 months, Marines argued.

Rumsfeld said he challenged this argument, suggesting the extra movement of Marines was inefficient. But Marine Corps leaders countered that soldiers on 12-month tours are sent home anyway for a two-week respite. Marines are not.

Rumsfeld said he also asked if it wasn't inefficient to bring Marines home after only seven months. Why not a year?

If tours last longer than seven months, Marine leaders maintained, troops lose their focus and become less effective.

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