Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speak with Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson prior to testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the 2010 National Defense Authorization Budget Request in Washington, D.C., May 14, 2009. DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeleyFrom Elite TV:
WASHINGTON, May 13, 2009 – The Army is making progress toward getting current operational needs and long-term requirements back in balance, but there is still a long way to go, the service’s top officer said today.
The Army is so weighed down by current demands that it can’t do “the things we know we need to do to sustain the all-volunteer force for the long haul and restore our strategic flexibility to do other things,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr. told Pentagon reporters during a media roundtable.
The service is following plans put in place in 2004 and 2007 to address the balance question by 2011. “That sounds like a long time, but in an organization of 1.1 million people that’s growing and transforming itself, it’s not at all,” Casey said.
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My Comment: A rosy picture .... but these plans can easily be put into the garbage can if things go south in Iraq, Afghanistan .... and/or who knows where.