Looking in the rearview mirror: Myers -- kudos to the military planners

July 27, 2003

From the American Forces Press Service

[Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Richard] Myers will not put a timeline on how long forces will be needed in Iraq, but he said the coalition is making progress. He said economic life is returning to normal. "When I was here in May a very unscientific test showed about a third of the shops were open as we drove through Baghdad," Myers said. "I understand now that almost all the shops and stalls are open."

The chairman said the number of coalition troops in Iraq is what was planned for major combat operations. "The numbers had been planned for some time," he said. "That ought to give people the indication that whoever was doing the planning had a pretty good estimate for what it was going to take."

Myers praised the redeployment and rotation plans. He said they provide predictability for service members and for their families.

Of course, that was in July 2003. All that "predictability" was pretty much over by January 2004.

Army expanding 'stop loss' order to keep soldiers from leaving

USA Today — The Army will announce as early as Tuesday new orders that will forbid thousands of soldiers from leaving the service after they return this year from Iraq, Afghanistan and other fronts in the war against terrorism, defense officials said Monday.

And just in case we couldn't figure it out on our own, USA Today gave us some expert analysis.

"The use of stop loss is often an indication of a shortfall of available personnel," says Loren Thompson, an analyst at the Lexington Institute, a think tank based in Arlington, Va.

Gee, you think?