Posted on Mar 24, 2014
Should there be a maximum number of deployments that service members endure in a career?
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Many of us have been on multiple deployments to various places in our career. For some of us (and Soldiers that I personally know), the deployment count is already at 7 times; I myself am on my 4th deployment which brings up the question. Does anyone believe that there should be a specific number of deployments (specifically combat zone deployments, but overseas assignments without family comments are welcome as well) that a individual should be required to endure through a career as most deployments on the Army side is 9-15 months (not sure about the other services)? Should it be a system in which unit deployment rosters are filled with those that haven't deployed or just deployed a time or two and then back-fill the rest with volunteers by rank and MOS. Is a volunteer system even practical or feasible? Would appreciate hearing some opinions on this, thanks!
Posted >1 y ago
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What? No.
Deploying is the while point of being in the military.
That's like saying the NFL should have limit to how many games you can play.
Deploying is the while point of being in the military.
That's like saying the NFL should have limit to how many games you can play.
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During WW II, Army Air Corps bomber pilots who successfully completed 50 missions were sent home to assist in selling war bonds. Then again, most Soldiers stayed in theater until the war was over. Five years start to finish forged "The Greatest Generation." If they did it, why can't we? I am NOT saying that we should never get to go home or make deployments indefinite, but just presenting a little perspective.
Perhaps we could cap deployments in terms of months deployed.
The downside to that is we would be keeping all the experienced leaders in the rear while the inexperienced Soldiers are left on the line to figure it out on their own. Yes, I know everyone has been in that position at one time, but why should we perpetuate that? If we can keep injecting experience into combat units, why not? Making things tough just because we might have had it rough only continues the cycle of poor leadership. Why work hard when we can work smart? The Army tends to fail at this simple concept.
As for volunteers, those who HAVE done several deployments would probably not volunteer for more. We would have to ensure that all the pieces (MOS') required to send an entire unit downrange are included. Leaving that up to volunteers might not be feasible.
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