Secretary of Defense James Mattis instituted a new retention rule for troops. Now service members must be deployable or in his words, “get out.”
Mattis feels that too many are carrying the load for all, with about 11% of all current troops on active duty, in the Reserves or in the National Guard classified as non-deployable. That amounts to 235,000 individuals out of the 2.1 million total troop force.
The thought behind this new rule is for the good of the military family. Mattis, rightly, remarks that “we may enlist soldiers, but we reenlist families.”
We expect our teachers to stay up to date with the best classroom practices. We expect our lawyers to know about new laws. We expect our service members to be ready and willing to deploy.
High Tempo Missions
Mattis is right: too many of the same service members have been deployed over and over again for the last 17 years. I’ve seen more friends and neighbors pull almost back-to-back deployments than I care to count.
This high operational tempo leads to burnout for troops and families. It’s hard to stay motivated with a “go team” mentality when your group is always doing the grunt work. Even when often deployed troops are home, it can be hard to settle into family life. Disconnecting from the mission and rejoining a different pace of life can be a struggle.
Military spouses and children feel the burn too. Too many families have almost become single parent homes due to the frequent absence of one parent. Military spouses of deployed troops feel constantly on edge, just waiting for that knock. The mental load is heavy and all too real.
It’s only right to equally spread the burden among all service members. Part of doing your job means being able to fulfill all portions of that position. Military troops must be ready to deploy in support of the mission. It’s simply not fair to rely on the same people over and over again.
Deployable, Not Deployed
At this juncture, I feel it’s important to note one key phrase in Mattis’ rule. He states that troops who have been non-deployable for 12 or more months must separate. He does not expressly state that all troops must actively deploy within the same time frame.
This is an important difference.
Not all positions require the same tempo of deployments. Each military job is very specific about the requirements needed and the potential operational tempo. An infantryman is likely to face a different deployment schedule and mission than a doctor or a pilot or a mechanic.
What Mattis is asking for is simply that troops remain at the ready. I think that this is reasonable. We expect our teachers to stay up to date with the best classroom practices. We expect our lawyers to know about new laws.
Military troops should put their checks in their deployment boxes.
This means maintaining an acceptable level of physical fitness, ensuring that medical and dental exams are complete and continuing to develop in their assigned billet. None of this seems out of order.
For troops that are non-deployable due to their own lack of follow-through, like missing vaccinations or poor PT scores, they should be asked to leave. Part of the job is being mission ready and they were unable to meet that requirement. It shows a lack of commitment.
Of course, this assumes that these services are readily available both physically and in actuality. Appointments for medical and dental care are often hard to come by. Individuals should need to show their good faith efforts to complete their duty before being asked to leave.
Not Considerate Enough
There are exceptions for troops who are injured in the line of duty or in the field. Mattis has given assurances that troops who meet this requirement will be given alternate assignments and retained. This is only fair. It shows a willingness to support those who have suffered a workplace injury. This caveat helps to reenlist families.
What doesn’t help to reenlist families is the lack of guidance regarding pregnancy and the postpartum period. Female service members are likely to be non-deployable for at least 40 weeks when you account for pregnancy alone. If we consider the time needed to recover from childbirth, that puts most women over the 52-week mark.
Is Mattis suggesting that women, who have recently given birth, be asked to leave the military?
This doesn’t seem right and certainly doesn’t support military families. Studies vary, but several have found that full recovery postpartum takes longer than the typical maternity leave of 12 weeks. Asking a new mom to leave her place of employment due to childbirth seems cruel and unusual.
There needs to be additional guidance regarding pregnancy and childbirth. Reasonable and medically sound timelines for a return to full duty should be implemented and explained.
Family Friendly Rule
While this rule is still in its infancy, the intention is good. Spreading the workload by ensuring a highly deployable force is fair. It removes an undue burden from troops who have faced repeat deployments as a result of others in non-deployment status. It also forces troops to take their deployment status seriously.
Some specifics need to be clarified and it is really too soon to say just how this rule will actually impact deployments. But on its face, it seems like a good way to clean up the Armed Forces and ensure that we are ready to face today’s challenges.
I agree with the proposed policy. My oldest son was in the Air Force for eleven years. After nine (89 day) deployments to Qatar he felt like he was pushing his luck and his civilian wife had enough of being worried about that knock on the door and being alone so much. He left the Air Force. At the age of 19 my middle son was a Critical Care Corpsman in the Navy when he was severely wounded in Iraq. He wanted to stay in the military and after two and a half years of recovery he was put back on deployment status and has since deployed several times. My youngest son was a Crew Chief in the Air Force. In 2013 he was selected as Crew Chief of the year in the United States Air Force! The following year, returning from a TDY he was injured in a pilot error aircraft accident. He suffered an inoperable back injury. He could no longer be a Crew Chief, due to the heavy lifting, but he wanted to stay in the Air Force. There are plenty of jobs that don’t require heavy lifting but because he could no longer pass the running portion of the PT test the Air Force medically discharged him. If you choose to be in the military, whether active or reserve, everyone needs to to be in compliance with the rules and do their share!
He is right. The US military does not exist to give jobs, build bridges, or treat the sick. It is to go places, blow things up and neutralize the enemies of the US. “To close with, kill capture or destroy the enemy by any means available.
I agree. If a person is not deployable and not able to become deployable they should not be in the service. I do think there should be a one time extension for those not deployable for medical reasons. After 12 months, if a qualified medical doctor states the person will be deployable within the next 12 months then the extension would be granted.
This would give a sick, injured, or pregnant service member 24 months before being released.
As a Female Retired Air Force Vietnam/Gulf War Veteran and a Single Parent I was told on more than one occasion “Uncle Sam did not issue you a child/family.” And keep your childcare paperwork current or be threatened with falsifying government documents.
The military is not a country club. Be Proud Be Strong And feel lucky that you don’t have to wait for snail mail and morale calls if you even know what that is.
I agree that the rule is needed, but definitely agree that women need a bit longer than 12 months to get ready following a pregnancy. It reminds me of when I was in and single and only the single soldiers had to work the holidays. Keep it fair!
Hasn’t it always been that way for the active duty Reserves and active duty National Guard? They’ve had to meet their physical fitness requirements every year. They’ve had to go to participate in their training schedules every year. If their command squadron leaders have been letting them slide, then kick out those squad leaders. My husband got out of the Marines after serving 20 years because he knew he’d probably be getting deployed very soon and he had become a single parent of his six-year-old son. He had no one to leave his son with since I hadn’t met him until his son was eight. So, knowing he wasn’t deployable with his new total responsibility he left the military. If you take on personal responsibilities you need to deal with them, not the military.
So whats new, when I was on active duty (1962-1982) you could refuse a remote assignment but if you did you would not be eligible to re enlist. I do agree some are bearing more than there share of deployments but most also knew they would be subject to it when they enlisted. What the Air Force needs to do is use there persone system to spread the wealth a bit more.