Monday, January 30, 2006
Military RhetIraq: Troop Levels per Secretary Harvey
Who: Francis J. Harvey, Secretary of the Army
Source: Department of Defense
Quotes: Exceprts from radio interview with Laura Ingraham
LAURA INGRAHAM: Mr. Secretary, the charges were kind of flying fast and furious and these conclusions that the Army is really at the point now with Afghanistan, Iraq, all the other commitments we have obviously in the United States and around the world, is just being stretched to the point where it could just break at any moment. What's your reaction?
SECRETARY HARVEY: Well, needless to say I totally disagree with that. Today's Army is the most capable, best trained, best equipped, best led and most experienced force our nation has fielded in more than a decade. Laura, when I hear talk about breaking or stretched, the barometer I use, the measure I use, is retention. The retention rate in the Army today is as high as it's been in five years. Soldiers vote with their feet like any other organization and they're staying in in record numbers and that indicates to me that the Soldiers have confidence in their leadership, they believe they have the equipment and resources they need to do their job, they have a great deal of job satisfaction and they're satisfied with the quality of life, so regardless of what you hear in all the talk, the best measure is retention and that, as I said, is at an all-time high.
LAURA INGRAHAM: Last year the military, the Army did not meet its recruiting goal. Where are we so far in 2006?
SECRETARY HARVEY: We're going quite well right now, Laura. If we look at the last, going back into the summer of fiscal year '05, going into the summer, we started making our goals and we've done that for seven months in a row.
... it's important to realize that last year, although we missed our goal, we were 99.5 percent of our historic ten year average, recruited about 73,400, and if you look back ten years the average was 74,400. So we were at approximately 1,000 of our historic average. However, we're trying to grow the Army so we need to recruit 80,000. So that's one of the reasons that we didn't make the goal.
LAURA INGRAHAM: Is there any doubt in your mind, Mr. Secretary -- talking to the Secretary of the Army, Francis Harvey -- that if we continue to be the presence, the level that we're at in Iraq right now which is still at about what? We're at about 138,000?
SECRETARY HARVEY: The total of which is around 115, 120 are Army and the remainder Marines.
LAURA INGRAHAM: Right. With that size deployment, if that had to continue over a five year period, what would that ultimately do to the US Army? That has to be something that weighs on your mind.
SECRETARY HARVEY: It does weigh on your mind. You can read in these reports where people speculate that it will break the Army. These are all speculative and opinions that really are not based on any facts.
... Right now, so far so good. If it goes for another five years, that's all speculation.
Source: Department of Defense
Quotes: Exceprts from radio interview with Laura Ingraham
LAURA INGRAHAM: Mr. Secretary, the charges were kind of flying fast and furious and these conclusions that the Army is really at the point now with Afghanistan, Iraq, all the other commitments we have obviously in the United States and around the world, is just being stretched to the point where it could just break at any moment. What's your reaction?
SECRETARY HARVEY: Well, needless to say I totally disagree with that. Today's Army is the most capable, best trained, best equipped, best led and most experienced force our nation has fielded in more than a decade. Laura, when I hear talk about breaking or stretched, the barometer I use, the measure I use, is retention. The retention rate in the Army today is as high as it's been in five years. Soldiers vote with their feet like any other organization and they're staying in in record numbers and that indicates to me that the Soldiers have confidence in their leadership, they believe they have the equipment and resources they need to do their job, they have a great deal of job satisfaction and they're satisfied with the quality of life, so regardless of what you hear in all the talk, the best measure is retention and that, as I said, is at an all-time high.
LAURA INGRAHAM: Last year the military, the Army did not meet its recruiting goal. Where are we so far in 2006?
SECRETARY HARVEY: We're going quite well right now, Laura. If we look at the last, going back into the summer of fiscal year '05, going into the summer, we started making our goals and we've done that for seven months in a row.
... it's important to realize that last year, although we missed our goal, we were 99.5 percent of our historic ten year average, recruited about 73,400, and if you look back ten years the average was 74,400. So we were at approximately 1,000 of our historic average. However, we're trying to grow the Army so we need to recruit 80,000. So that's one of the reasons that we didn't make the goal.
LAURA INGRAHAM: Is there any doubt in your mind, Mr. Secretary -- talking to the Secretary of the Army, Francis Harvey -- that if we continue to be the presence, the level that we're at in Iraq right now which is still at about what? We're at about 138,000?
SECRETARY HARVEY: The total of which is around 115, 120 are Army and the remainder Marines.
LAURA INGRAHAM: Right. With that size deployment, if that had to continue over a five year period, what would that ultimately do to the US Army? That has to be something that weighs on your mind.
SECRETARY HARVEY: It does weigh on your mind. You can read in these reports where people speculate that it will break the Army. These are all speculative and opinions that really are not based on any facts.
... Right now, so far so good. If it goes for another five years, that's all speculation.
