US troops are stretched very thin on the ground in Iraq and morale is hitting 'rock bottom', writes Conor O'Clery in New York
Christopher Coffin was ready to retire last year from the US Army Reserve. Before he could do so President George Bush issued an order stopping all retirements form the reserves until after the war in Iraq.
Mr Coffin, a handsome former park ranger with spectacles and an engaging smile, was sent to Iraq as a sergeant in the Army Reserve 352nd Civil Affairs Command. His job was to assist convoys travelling between Kuwait and Baghdad.
Today, his 52nd birthday, he will be cremated after a 10.30 a.m. funeral service at Trinity Episcopal Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Sgt Coffin was killed last week when his Humvee ran into a ditch on a night of attacks on army vehicles.
His wife Betsy, with whom he renewed marriage vows in the same church three years ago, is so distraught she can barely speak, her sister told a reporter of the Morning Call newspaper.
The poignant fate of the middle-aged reservist, one of 70 US military fatalities overall in Iraq since Mr Bush announced the end of major combat on May 1st, underlines a growing crisis facing the Pentagon as casualties mount and American families are devastated.
The US army has an active-duty force of just over one million, of whom almost half are drawn from the Army Reserve and the National Guard. More than 250,000 army troops are deployed in dozens of countries overseas, including 135,000 in Iraq and 44,800 in Kuwait, stretching manpower resources to the limit.
"Hordes of active-duty troops and reservists may soon leave the service rather than subject themselves to a life continually on the road," warned Brookings Institution scholar Mr Michael O'Hanlon.
"It's one thing to be asked to serve overseas every third or fourth or fifth year, but it is not acceptable to put these people overseas more than half the time," he wrote in a Washington Post commentary in which he said the issue could break the army.
Reservist Christopher Coffin was a case in point. He had not long returned from duty in Kosovo last year when he was ordered to the Persian Gulf. He was not supposed to see active combat.
Democrat Congressman Mr Tom Allen of Maine, Sergeant Coffin's home state, told The Irish Times he had heard stories of other reservists who were being called up more than they anticipated and who wanted to go home.
"It is a very worrying situation to have people in long periods of deployment that take them away from their families and their jobs," he said.
The aim of recruitment to the reserves was to have fewer active duty soldiers as the Cold War wound down but in the 1990s their use exploded, Mr Allen explained, and "that's compounded by a very long term commitment in Iraq". Despite the mounting toll in Iraq, US military commanders have resisted calls for extra forces. Yesterday Gen Tommy Franks who led the US-British invasion of Iraq said, "It's not time to send in additional troops". "Our troops are stretched very, very thin," said Senator Carl Levin, the senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, one of several Congress members who disagree. He suggested on his return from a visit to Iraq that Germany, France, India and Egypt be asked to send peace-keeping forces to reinforce US occupation troops.
The need for rotation has become particularly urgent as American soldiers endure increasing danger, heat, and uncertainty in Iraq. Morale has hit "rock bottom" because of extended deployments, the Christian Science Monitor reported yesterday.
Frustrated soldiers are writing to Congress Members to request their units be repatriated, and there is an increase in letters from the Red Cross stating soldiers are needed at home, it stated. "They vent to anyone who will listen," an officer in one army unit told the Monitor about the mental state of his troops.
"They write letters, they cry, they yell. Many of them walk around looking visibly tired and depressed". Criticism is also surfacing in the US media of the behaviour of some US forces in Iraq. Time magazine reported yesterday that US troops from the 3rd Infantry Division deployed at Baghdad airport stole duty-free items including perfume and expensive watches, needlessly shot up the terminal and trashed five serviceable Boeing aeroplanes.
Yesterday Gen Franks retired and handed over control of US forces in the Gulf region to army Lieut Gen John Abizaid, his Arabic-speaking second-in-command. In a farewell speech he said there was a "rough road behind and a rough road ahead." He said he was frequently asked if the price was worth paying and his reply was always "You bet" as it was the "price of freedom".