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R&R slots for 1st ID troops cut

May-12-2004 » Filed Under: Iraq News

The following article discusses the reduction of R&R slots for the 1st ID, but the reasons cited apply to the entire Iraqi theater, I'm sure.

[Link to Full Article]
By Steve Liewer, Stars and Stripes

WÜRZBURG, Germany — The 1st Infantry Division has announced that rest-and-recuperation slots for its soldiers have been cut by nearly 85 percent for the period May 1 through June 15.

In an unsigned “talking points” memo distributed this week to rear detachment commanders, the division said it had expected to be able to send 80 soldiers per day home to the United States or Europe for 15 days of midtour R&R under a program begun last September. That comes to a total of 3,600 soldiers.

But Combined Joint Task Force 7 told units in Iraq two weeks ago that it would be sharply cutting back the R&R slots for all units because of “operational requirements in theater,” according to the 1st ID memo.

“These requirements caused a strain on theater air transportation assets, limiting our ability to send Soldiers on R&R,” the memo continued.

Following a query from Stars and Stripes last Friday, the task force was unable to make a spokesman available to discuss the impact of cutbacks on units other than 1st ID. But according to an article in the latest edition of the Desert Voice — an Army command publication circulated on bases in Kuwait — the total number of R&R slots available to all troops was cut from 470 per day to 85 per day for May 1-June 15.

The article also said instead of flying troops home on chartered aircraft, they will be given tickets for commercial flights. When charter flights do resume, the stateside hub will shift from Baltimore to Atlanta. Dallas also might become a hub.

Be sure to read the rest.


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