19 Month Dwell time.... STARTS NOW!

Hallelujah! FINALLY! It seriously is about time. I read so many of you milspouses blogging about another year apart from your husband. It's hard for a year, but every other year? Household 6 Diva's husband has three children and because of his deployment schedule, only witnessed his third child's baby stages. The extra time at home will make a safer, happier and healthier soldier. He can rest his mind and spirit. I have heard it takes about two to three years to recuperate from a one year tour. I know these men are trained to prepare for battle, but are they really prepared to handle death? watching someone die? I think any human being would need some time....

 Their goal is for 2 years in 2012, but I will take the 19 months now. Even though there are 60,000 soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan (YAY!), there will be the Obama's Administration increase in the a-stan area this fall. Also, some of these soldiers who may have increased deployments are those high demand branches; special operations, explosive ordnance disposal, military police, and engineers. We need every soldier, but these areas take longer to develop the skill. However, the Army is trying to ease the tension for these soldiers. They are thinking of coming up with a rotational force; one at war or available to deploy, one in training and one in reset. This sounds a little more predictable and manageable. Don't you agree?


You may find more about this in the August 16, ARMY TIMES article "More Time at Home" by Michelle Tan, pg 16. New deployment model will boost dwell time - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times