男友太凶猛1v1高h,大地资源在线资源免费观看 ,人妻少妇精品视频二区,极度sm残忍bdsm变态

   

US army desertion rate highest since 1980

(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-17 09:13

Washington - US soldiers strained by six years at war are deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980, with the number of Army deserters this year showing an 80 percent increase since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.


Warren Henthorn, at center with microphone, of Choctaw, Okla., speaks at a Veterans Day protest of the war at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, November 12, 2007. Henthorn's son, 25-year-old Jeffrey Henthorn, was an Army specialist killed during his second tour of Iraq in 2005. [Agencies]

While the totals are still far lower than they were during the Vietnam War, when the draft was in effect, they show a steady increase over the past four years and a 42 percent jump since last year.

"We're asking a lot of soldiers these days," said Roy Wallace, director of plans and resources for US Army personnel. "They're humans. They have all sorts of issues back home and other places like that. So, I'm sure it has to do with the stress of being a soldier."

The US Army defines a deserter as someone who has been absent without leave for longer than 30 days. The soldier is then discharged as a deserter.

According to the Army, about nine in every 1,000 soldiers deserted in fiscal year 2007, which ended Sept. 30, compared to nearly seven per 1,000 a year earlier. Overall, 4,698 soldiers deserted this year, compared to 3,301 last year.

The increase comes as the US Army continues to bear the brunt of the war demands with many soldiers serving repeated, lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military leaders -- including Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey -- have acknowledged that the Army has been stretched nearly to the breaking point by the combat. Efforts are under way to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps to lessen the burden and give troops more time off between deployments.

"We have been concentrating on this," said Wallace. "The Army can't afford to throw away good people. We have got to work with those individuals and try to help them become good soldiers."

Still, he noted that "the military is not for everybody, not everybody can be a soldier." And those who want to leave the service will find a way to do it, he said.

While the Army does not have an up-to-date profile of deserters, more than 75 percent of them are soldiers in their first term of enlistment. And most are male.

Soldiers can sign on initially for two to six years. Wallace said he did not know whether deserters were more likely to be those who enlisted for a short or long tour.

At the same time, he said that even as desertions have increased, the Army has seen some overall success in keeping first-term soldiers in the service.

   1 2   


Top World News  
Today's Top News  
Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours
主站蜘蛛池模板: 集贤县| 新昌县| 垫江县| 舒城县| 五常市| 璧山县| 柞水县| 宜丰县| 金川县| 吉木乃县| 冷水江市| 乌鲁木齐县| 伊春市| 缙云县| 富蕴县| 襄垣县| 乐昌市| 中山市| 陕西省| 思茅市| 拉萨市| 革吉县| 新疆| 沈阳市| 萍乡市| 寿光市| 娄底市| 凤凰县| 台山市| 平昌县| 田东县| 九寨沟县| 高安市| 南宫市| 水富县| 平南县| 海丰县| 浦城县| 东乌珠穆沁旗| 西宁市| 贡觉县|