New York Times Editorial: Stopping ‘Stop-Loss’

New York Times Editorial: Stopping ‘Stop-Loss’
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: March 21, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/opinion/22sun2.html?ref=opinion


The men and women who serve in Iraq and Afghanistan have made many sacrifices over the last seven years, including repeated and extended combat deployments. So it is very good news that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has decided to phase out the deeply unpopular stop-loss program, which forces soldiers to remain in the military after their enlistments end.

An estimated 120,000 troops have been affected since 2001, including 13,000 who are still prevented from exiting the service. It is hard to argue with critics who deride the program as a back-door draft. But then, the all-volunteer military was never designed to be abused as it was during the Bush administration: indefinitely deployed and in permanent crisis mode.

Mr. Gates seemed appropriately contrite when he told reporters that holding so many soldiers against their will was “breaking faith.” He was right.

The program was used during the 1991 gulf war and several other conflicts. But it became a serious burden on soldiers when President Bush launched the so-called surge in Iraq. For too long Mr. Bush — who despite all evidence thought he could make quick work of Afghanistan and Iraq — resisted calls to expand the active-duty Army. He finally agreed under pressure from Congress and the military.

The Army has already added some 60,000 troops — it is now at 547,000 — making it possible to wind down the stop-loss program. President Obama’s decision to withdraw forces from Iraq more quickly than they are being increased in Afghanistan also allows for more flexibility. And then there is one of the few silver linings of the economic collapse: it has helped the military draw in more new recruits and retain officers.

The stop-loss program is not being eliminated entirely. Mr. Gates predicted that a much reduced number of soldiers — scores rather than thousands — would still be kept on after their enlistments were over. And any soldier in the program as of last October will get paid an extra $500 a month.

We hope that the Pentagon makes good on this commitment to use the stop-loss program sparingly — only when a service member has a unique, needed skill or is part of a unit with a special mission. The best way to address the problem is for Mr. Obama and Congress to continue funding an expanded Army and Marine Corps and to resist waging unnecessary wars like the one in Iraq.

Still, Mr. Gates’s decision is a sign that the administration recognizes the intolerable stresses placed on the overstretched military — and the men and women who are its core — and is committed to finding relief.