Deployment stress concerns Army enlisted leaders

As the White House debates sending as many as 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan, the Army’s top enlisted advisor said today that he is proud of the work Soldiers are doing everyday in both Afghanistan and Iraq, but the stress that Soldiers and their Families incur from this effort is something that keeps him awake at night.

Speaking with senior enlisted leaders at the Association of the United States Army annual meeting Oct. 6, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth Preston said currently the Army has 265,000 troops deployed to 80 countries around the world

Preston added that more Soldiers are actually deployed right now than at the height of the Iraq surge in 2007. He said currently Soldiers receive 12 months dwell time after a year deployed in combat. Ideally, he would like to see that time doubled or tripled, he said.

Preston said he and enlisted advisors from each of the services met in January with the commander-inchief, President Obama, to discuss, among other topics, ways of increasing dwell time for Soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and efforts to take stress off the force.

“I told the president that what I worry about right now is stress on the force, and I worry about it not only from perspective of the operational Army ... operational forces that deploy for 12 or 15 months,” Preston explained. “It’s the Army institution, the generating force, the school house, drills sergeants, recruiters, instructors ... but it’s also our Families, our garrison, our systems.”

“From an operational Soldier perspective, if you’re deployed for 15 months, being away from your Family that long is inherently stressful, and being deployed into a combat zone, doing combat operations is inherently stressful,” he added.

Preston also explained to the president that for Soldiers returning to home station the stress does not end. He said in most cases, 90 days back from deployment, Soldiers find themselves caught in the cycle of preparing for the next deployment.