Longer deployments will sustain
war on terrorism, says Gen. Myers
By Wayne Specht, Stars and
Stripes
Buckle your chin straps, the troops are in for a long ride, advised Air Force Gen.
Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"Everything else, at least for the next couple of years, will probably pale in
comparison to efficiently and effectively carrying out the orders that the president of
the United States has given us," Myers said during an American Forces Radio and
Television Service interview to U.S. forces overseas.
Myers said he’s counting on troops to stay focused on their missions, and to take
care of themselves, their comrades and their families.
"We are at war," Myers said. "We will stretch the force, and I would
just hope the force is going to understand that … this is a global war on
terrorism."
In sharp contrast to recent efforts to stabilize deployment turbulence, troops can
expect to spend more time away from home bases.
The Pentagon is likely to discard the peacetime personnel rotation schedule, Myers
said, that limits the time troops are separated from their families.
His statements could be a sign of how thin the armed forces may be stretched as the
Pentagon settles into what Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld called a "long,
unrelenting, global war on terrorism."
"We’re going to do everything we can to manage this thing," Myers said.
"We’re in a brand-new situation, so buckle your chin straps."
Military services adopted improved rotation schedules in the early 1990s — when
the military was having trouble retaining recruits — to make armed-forces life more
predictable.
The schedules limit typical deployments to three to six months. Longer deployments
usually require special orders.
Under the Air Force’s Expeditionary Aerospace Force concept that debuted in 1997,
the deployed generally returned home in 90 days.
"We do not foresee changes for Pacific Air Forces units that take part in EAF
deployments," said Senior Master Sgt. Darla Ernst, a command spokeswoman.
Fighter squadrons assigned to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, and at Misawa Air Base, Japan,
are deployed to Turkey supporting Operation Northern Watch, becoming part of one of 10
Aerospace Expeditionary Forces within the EAF framework.
Ernst said the next round of deployments affecting the two bases is set for September
2002.
"That’s the next time we’re on the hook, and we don’t see any
changes at this time," she said.
During a recent visit to Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., Air Force Chief of Staff Gen.
John P. Jumper said the AEF may have to be broken for tanker and airlift support, but the
Air Force would stay within the predictable AEF framework as much as possible.
"For everything else, if we have to break it, we’ll explain it
carefully," the general said. "When the nation calls, we have to answer."
Myers said there’s no question that servicemembers and their families will suffer
hardships.
"Our job is going to be try to balance our war on terrorism with our exercise
programs and everything else that we have going on, and try to balance it in a way that
puts the minimum hardship on our people," Myers said.
On Monday, Air Force Brig. Gen. Chip Utterback, 35th Fighter Wing commander, told
troops in his Commander’s Update on American Forces Network some degree of normalcy
is returning to the northern Honshu installation.
"We’ll even begin exercising again," Utterback said.
Deployed servicemembers also need to make every effort to communicate with family
members, Myers told troops.
"If you’re overseas particularly, your family’s going to worry about
you, so communicate with them as you can," Myers said. "If you have access to
e-mail, then e-mail them. Write letters the old-fashioned way. But stay in contact,
because, naturally, moms and dads and spouses are going to worry about members forward
deployed. So, as you can, reassure them."
Most of all, Myers said he wants troops to believe in what they’re doing.
"If we’re successful, then our nation will be victorious, and in the end,
freedom will be victorious," Myers said. "And that’s what it’s all
about."
Myers also asked servicemembers’ families to stand strong.
"You’re part of it, too, just like you always are," he said directly to
families, then added, "so I would ask for their support of the servicemember piece of
their family and we’ll get through this just fine."
American Forces Press Services sources were used in this report.
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