Mike Levin: “the Army's current situation is approaching crisis proportions. The Army is bearing the largest burden of the war in…”

“the Army's current situation is approaching crisis proportions. The Army is bearing the largest burden of the war in Iraq and of the larger war on terror worldwide as well as maintaining forward-deployed forces to deter a possible conflict in Korea. The intense operations and personnel tempo are having a severe impact on both people and equipment, and relief is currently not in sight. There are nearly 270,000 soldiers deployed overseas in 120 countries. Soldiers make up 90,000 of the 135,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and 15,000 of the 20,000 in Afghanistan. The 495,000 active-duty soldiers have been stretched to the limit. The Army National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers have been called upon to shoulder the ever-increasing burden. For instance, the first rotation in Iraq consisted of 75-percent active and 25-percent reserve component soldiers. In the current rotation, the Active Force has dropped to 61 percent and the Reserve Force has risen to 39 percent and the next rotation is projected to continue that trend, with about 57,000 percent active and 43 percent reserve. This trend is simply not sustainable. Many reserve component soldiers are approaching their 24-month limit on active duty and many more will reach that limit as the war in Iraq drags on.”