The Demographic Challenges of the US Army
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee in March of 2005, Army Vice Chief of Staff, General Richard Cody, told lawmakers "what keeps me awake at night is what this all-volunteer force will look like in 2007�?????I think it ought to keep all of you awake."1 What worried General Cody in the spring of 2005 was maintaining the quality and standards of an all-volunteer Army with soldiers returning from their second and third tours in Iraq and Afghanistan since September 11. What General Cody did not envision in the spring of 2005 was that by December of this year, 13 of the Army’s 43 combat brigades would be serving their third tour and 5 would be serving their fourth tour in a combat zone since September 11. His boss, the Army Chief of Staff General George Casey, put it correctly on August 30, 2007 when he said, "the tempo of our deployments are not sustainable."
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This article was originally published in National Strategy Forum.
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