04 FEB 04. US News. Dave Moniz and Jim Michaels.
In December, the Pentagon began moving 130,000 troops out of Iraq and 105,000 into the country in a series of complex maneuvers - a rotation that is the largest since World War II. The military has seldom tried a feat this complicated during a peacekeeping operation, let alone a guerrilla war.
By early May, the Pentagon will have brought home virtually all of its most-seasoned soldiers - including the Army's 82nd, 101st Airborne and 4th Infantry divisions - and replaced them with a combination of active Army soldiers, National Guardsmen, Army reservists and Marines.
It has taken the Army many months to develop a sense of trust with Iraqis who have provided intelligence and helped U.S. soldiers bring a measure of stability to a dangerous land, he says. And that stability may be at risk. The dangers were underscored again Tuesday with the killing of hundreds of Shiites in a series of attacks across the country. Many historians and military analysts say the Iraq rotations are far more difficult and dangerous than anything that occurred during the Allied campaign to defeat Nazi Germany.
The linked article points out the risks involved.
At times like this, it would seem better to just rotate individuals in and out of units which stay in place, rather than move all the people and equipment back and forth. But we saw the problems with that approach during the Vietnam era. It destroys the advantages of cohesive units, and can cripple the mission capability of key units needed for national security. [When I was in the 82nd Airborne in 1970, officer strength was down to 30%, since so many officers were getting individual orders to go to Nam. My orders to go over were suspended when the 82nd had trouble getting a full compliment of troops of all ranks ready (within 18 hours) to jump into Jordan before Nixon called off that mission at the last minute. (When Arafat heard the 82nd was coming, he high-tailed it out of Jordan.)]
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