1/6/05 - 11:30am EST

The Iraq war has put a tremendous strain on active duty and reserve military units. It was not known how much of a strain until the General in charge of the US Army Reserves chose to make some of his comments about the problem public. The US Army Reserve is 'degenerating into a 'broken' force' due to current deployment policies relating to the Iraq war, said Lt. General James Helmly, 'I do not wish to sound alarmist. I do wish to send a clear, distinctive signal of deepening concern.' The General's comments come from a December 20th memo to General Peter Schoomaker, Army Chief of Staff. “While ability to meet the current demands associated with OIF (Operational Iraqi Freedom) and OEF (Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan) is of great importance, the Army Reserve is additionally in grave danger of being unable to meet other operational requirements including those in named OPLANS (operational plans) and CONUS (continental United States) emergencies, and is rapidly degenerating into a 'broken’ force,” continued the General in his eight-page memo.

Several pundits, familiar with Army readiness, force numbers and other information, are privately and publicly stating that the US Military cannot keep up the current force levels in Iraq for more than another 6-12 months due to manpower and readiness issues such as those with the reserves. As we approach that point, the Bush administration is going to face a difficult decision in the face of a growing insurgency. They can either leave Iraq, or they can institute a draft. This is, by the way, a best case scenario and assumes the US has no national security issues that require a use of force anywhere else in the world. Perhaps the lesson learned for all of us is that we should never engage in military operations unless there is a true, verifiable and critical national security threat.