Gates on Dover Media Coverage
‘Stop-Loss’ Will All but End By 2011, Gates Says -- New York Times
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Wednesday that, over two years, he would all but eliminate an unpopular practice that has prevented tens of thousands of active-duty soldiers and reservists from leaving military service on time if they were scheduled to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan.
More than 13,000 soldiers remain unable to exit the military under the policy, known as stop-loss, which was put in effect after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and then expanded in 2004 as the Army struggled to sustain two large war efforts.
The policy has been intensely unpopular with troops and their families, some of whom have denounced it as a back-door draft. Some 120,000 soldiers have been affected by stop-loss in its various forms since 2001, Army officials said Wednesday, a practice that Mr. Gates said had amounted to “breaking faith” with those in uniform.
With the strain on the Army projected to ease in the years ahead, Mr. Gates announced a timetable that would cut in half by June 2010 the number of troops affected by stop-loss, with the practice all but eliminated by March 2011.
Read more ....
More News On Sec. of Def. Robert Gates
Gates Announces End to Army Stop-Loss -- ABC News
Army to Phase Out 'Stop-Loss' Practice -- Washington Post
U.S. military to halt 'stop loss' service extensions for troops -- McClatchy
Gates Emotional Description of Dover Visit -- ABC News
Pentagon Will Help Families Travel to Dover -- New York Times
Gates recommends admiral as NATO commander -- AFP
Gates opposes Boeing, EADS splitting tanker contract -- AFP
Gates opposes splitting tanker contract -- The Hill
Pentagon chief likens bin Laden hunt to Unabomber -- Reuters
Gates plays down Russia, China threats -- Reuters
Gates hopes to call off escorts in South China Sea -- AFP