U.S ARMY: 15 MONTH TOURS - DO NOT WANT

I was surprised to learn that one general thinks that the tours should be shortened to 9 months!

Army Leaders Push to Shorten Iraq Tours
Dec 9, 2:37 PM (ET)

By ROBERT BURNS

...pressure is building to reverse one of the most onerous decisions Defense Secretary Robert Gates made to enable President Bush's troop buildup to go forward this year: extending the tours of active-duty soldiers from 12 months to 15 months. ... "We can't sustain that," Gen. George Casey, who was the top U.S. commander in Iraq before becoming the Army chief of staff at the Pentagon in April, said recently. "We have to come off that."
As a measure of Army leaders' concern about excessively long tours, the vice chief of staff, Gen. Richard Cody, told soldiers in February - two months before the decision on 15-month tours was made - that the prevailing standard of 12 months was too long. Cody said the goal was to cut it to nine months.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, said in an Associated Press interview Dec. 4 that he thinks 15-month tours are too long, although he said soldiers are bearing up well.