US: Commitments in both Iraq and Afghanistan are stretching the US army's manpower needs to breaking point, writes Tom Clonan
For the third year running, the US military is preparing to rotate up to 16 combat brigades to Iraq. America's troop commitment to Iraq alone represents nearly 50 per cent of the US army's total of 33 combat brigades.
Overall, there are approximately 370,000 US troops stationed abroad in over 100 countries. This deployment represents approximately 75 per cent of the US army's strength, leaving a skeleton force of around 100,000 troops in the States to cope with homeland security issues and to secure America's borders.
Ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan represent the first protracted war faced by an all-volunteer US military. In light of continuing combat operations and an ever-increasing overseas commitment to fighting Bush's international war on terror 32 years after the draft was suspended, the US military is beginning to feel the strain.
Against the background of the war in Iraq, the US army has failed to meet its recruitment targets for the last four months. Overall, the US army is about 50 per cent below recruiting targets for the current fiscal year ending in September.
Last month, the recruitment drive in the US reached crisis point and, on May 20th, the US army suspended all of its recruitment activities for one day, to counsel its 7,545 recruiting staff on appropriate methods for enticing young men and women into the military.
This dramatic step was taken on foot of complaints against recruiters who were accused of, among other things, threatening young would-be soldiers with arrest and imprisonment if they failed to turn up at nearby military bases for basic training.
The attrition rate among junior officers - often seen as a barometer for morale in the forces - currently stands at nearly 10 per cent. This high turnover of officers at the rank of lieutenant and captain - with early retirement and resignation - mirrors an alarming rise in the rate of divorce among officers.
Faced with an increased number of lengthy and hazardous combat tours abroad, the divorce rate among US military officers has trebled between 2002 and 2004.
The number of African-Americans in the US military has also dropped alarmingly - from 23.5 per cent of total strength in 2000 to 14 per cent in 2005.
According to US department of defence figures, approximately 22.5 per cent of the US soldiers killed in action in Iraq have been African-American and Hispanic troops. The number of women entering the US military has also plummeted from 22 per cent of total strength in 2000 to 17 per cent in 2005.
Women soldiers account for approximately 2 per cent of combat deaths in Iraq, with 38 women losing their lives on active service thus far. This compares with a total of eight US servicewomen - all nurses - who lost their lives during the Vietnam War.
The numbers of US reservists and National Guard members deployed on active service to Iraq and Afghanistan represent some of the highest since the second World War.
Approximately 40 per cent of the current US force in Iraq consists of reservists. The US military has also deployed five National Guard Brigades - it was once a safe haven for those wishing to avoid overseas service - to Iraq.
This unprecedented situation prompted the director of the US reserve forces, Lieut Gen James Helmly, to state at a Pentagon briefing earlier this year that the situation was at crisis point.
With recruitment among the Reserves and National Guard below target by about 21 per cent (a situation complicated by deployments overseas), senior officers doubt these forces can continue to cope with their traditional roles at home such as mobilisation during floods, tornadoes, hurricanes or civil disturbances.
Alarmingly, Helmly also stated that at least 10,000 reservists - many of them married men and women with families - were deployed to Iraq last year with less than five day's notice. It is believed many of these reservists will not re-enlist on repatriation.
Dr Tom Clonan is a retired Army officer. He currently lectures in the school of media, DIT.