Russ Feingold: “The increased operational tempo is straining the Army, the National Guard, and the Reserves. We do run the risk of…”

“The increased operational tempo is straining the Army, the National Guard, and the Reserves. We do run the risk of hurting recruitment and retention in both the Active and Reserve component. We are committing our troops to such an extent that we may not be able to sustain all of those commitments indefinitely. I am greatly concerned about these and other issues raised by the distinguished Senator from Rhode Island. However, I do not agree that increasing the end strength of the Army is the answer to these problems. The increase in end strength does not necessarily solve our immediate problem of overextended troops. It will take years to get the 10,000 soldiers recruited, trained, equipped, and deployed. We need solutions now. We need more foreign troops in Iraq and we need to work with the international community toward that goal. We also need to work with our allies to fight against terrorism with more than just military might. Most importantly, we need to refocus ourselves on the fight against terrorism instead of diverting our focus to ideologically driven wars of our choosing. Furthermore, according to rough estimates done by the CBO, increasing the end strength of the Army by 10,0000 will cost $409 million this year.”