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WASHINGTON,
Feb.
2008
–
The
U.S.
Army
remains
ready
to
engage
and
defeat
America’s
enemies
despite
experiencing
strain
after
seven
years
of
wartime
deployments,
the
Army’s
top
civilian
and
military
leaders
told
a
Senate
panel
here
today.
“Our
Army
is
stretched
by
demands
of
this
long
war,
but
it
remains
an
extraordinary
Army,”
Army
Secretary
Pete
Geren
told
members
of
the
Senate
Armed
Services
Committee.
“It
is
the
best-led,
best-equipped
and
best-trained
Army
we’ve
ever
put
in
the
field.
“Today,
we
are
an
Army
long
at
war,”
Geren
continued,
noting
U.S.
soldiers
have
fought
in
Afghanistan
for
seven
years
and
battled
in
Iraq
for
about
five
years.
The
war
against
global
terrorism
is
the
third-longest
war
in
American
history,
Geren
said,
behind
the
Revolutionary
War
and
the
Vietnam
War.
It
also
is
the
longest
U.S.
war
being
fought
by
all-volunteer
forces,
he
added.
The
Army
currently
has
250,000
soldiers
deployed
to
80
countries,
Geren
said,
including
those
deployed
to
Iraq
and
Afghanistan.
Soldiers
deployed
to
Iraq
and
Afghanistan
“are
our
top
priority,
and
we
will
never
take
our
eye
off
of
that
ball,”
Geren
emphasized.
The
nearly
$141
billion
allocated
for
the
Army
under
the
fiscal
2009
defense
budget
and
supplemental
funding
“ensure
that
our
soldiers
have
what
they
need,
when
they
need
it,”
Geren
said.
The
budget
contains
money
for
the
Army
to
put
its
64,000-soldier
expansion
on
the
front
burner,
Geren
noted.
“We
have
accelerated
the
64,000-man
growth
in
the
active-duty
Army
from
2012
to
2010,
with
a
commitment
that
we
will
maintain
recruit
quality
at
no
lower
than
the
2006
levels,”
he
reported.
These
added
soldiers
will
assist
in
meeting
wartime
requirements
during
a
period
of
persistent
conflict
that
is
challenging
the
Army’s
soldiers
and
their
families,
Geren
said.
“But,
our
Army
remains
strong,”
he
emphasized.
“It’s
stretched;
it
is
out
of
balance;
but
it
is
resilient.
Those
who
seek
parallels
with
the
‘hollow
Army’
of
the
late
’70s
will
not
find
it.”
Despite
the
challenges,
the
all-volunteer
Army
continues
to
meet
its
recruiting
and
retention
goals,
Geren
said.
“They’re
volunteer
soldiers;
they’re
volunteer
families,”
he
said.
“They’re
proud
of
who
they
are,
and
they’re
proud
of
what
they
do.
We
all
are
inspired
by
their
service
and
humbled
by
their
sacrifice.”
The
National
Guard
and
Army
Reserve
also
have
made
heavy
contributions
to
the
war
effort,
Geren
said,
noting
that
184,000
reservists
and
270,000
National
Guard
members
have
been
activated
for
service
in
the
war
against
global
terrorism
since
the
terrorist
attacks
of
Sept.
11,
2001.
Reserve-component
members
also
stepped
up
during
humanitarian
relief
missions
in
the
aftermath
of
hurricanes
Katrina
and
Rita,
Geren
said,
as
well
as
helping
fight
forest
fires
and
patrol
America’s
borders.
“We
are
one
Army;
the
active
component
cannot
go
to
war
without
the
reserve
component,”
he
said.
The
current
Army
budget
proposal
addresses
the
transformation
of
the
reserve
components
into
an
operational
reserve.
The
new
Army
budget,
which
contains
$5.6
billion
for
new
Guard
equipment
and
$1.4
billion
for
reserve
equipment,
continues
a
pattern
of
steady
investment
for
the
reserve
components,
Geren
said.
To
illustrate,
he
noted
that
the
National
Guard
possessed
290
trucks
of
modern
design
in
2001.
Today,
the
Guard
has
more
than
9,000
such
trucks.
Today’s
National
Guard
force
also
has
more
than
82,000
modern
tactical
radios,
Geren
said,
which
is
double
the
number
of
such
radios
it
had
in
2001.
And,
over
the
next
24
months,
Geren
said,
$17
billion
worth
of
equipment,
representing
more
than
400,000
new
items,
will
enter
the
National
Guard’s
inventory.
Other
funds
will
go
to
improving
care
for
wounded
warriors,
and
to
increase
the
quality
of
life
for
soldiers
and
their
families,
Geren
said,
including
better
barracks,
housing,
health
care
and
family
support
networks.
The
Army
also
will
continue
“to
grow
our
knowledge
and
improve
the
care
and
treatment”
of
post-traumatic
stress
disorder
and
traumatic
brain
injury,
Geren
said.
The
new
budget
also
will
be
used
to
develop
transformational
war-fighting
technologies
such
as
armed
reconnaissance
helicopters,
light
utility
helicopters,
unmanned
aerial-
and
land-based
vehicles,
and
joint
cargo
aircraft.
During
today’s
testimony
before
the
Senate
committee,
Casey
noted
that
he
told
the
committee
in
November
that
the
United
States’
military
would
be
involved
in
“persistent
conflict”
over
the
next
decade.
The
next
10
years
will
witness
“protracted
confrontation
among
state,
non-state,
and
individual
actors
who
are
increasingly
willing
to
use
violence
to
achieve
their
political
and
ideological
objectives,”
Casey
told
committee
members.
Global
trends
that
likely
will
exacerbate
this
situation
and
prolong
this
period
of
unrest
include:
increased
globalization
and
technology,
overpopulation
in
developing
countries,
competition
for
resources,
proliferation
of
weapons
of
mass
destruction,
and
safe
havens
for
terrorists
in
ungoverned
areas
of
the
world.
The
Army
must
continue
to
adapt
itself
to
become
more
agile
and
expeditionary
to
confront
such
future
challenges,
Casey
pointed
out.
However,
“the
cumulative
effects
of
the
last
six-plus
years
of
war
have
left
our
Army
out
of
balance
(and)
consumed
by
the
current
fight
and
unable
to
do
the
things
that
we
know
we
need
to
do
to
properly
sustain
our
all-volunteer
force
and
restore
our
flexibility
for
an
uncertain
future,”
Casey
said.
Despite
the
challenges,
today’s
Army
“remains
a
hugely
resilient,
professional
and
combat-seasoned
force,”
Casey
said.
To
put
itself
back
into
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