Attrition: Sailors Reinforce the Army

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November11, 2006: The U.S. Navy, in order to help out the U.S. Army in Iraq, is mobilizing some 6,000 reservists in the next year for service in combat zones. These sailors will do support jobs, in areas where both services have similar, or identical, specialists. Supply, maintenance and computer networks, for example. The army needs this help to take the burden, of repeated overseas duty, off their own troops. Most of the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are carried out by army troops. The more you send them overseas, the greater the strain on their spouses and children. Hundreds of navy reservists volunteer for this duty, without waiting to be activated. Not all the reservists are able to serve overseas. Some have physical limitations, are close to retirement, or simply want to be activated later because of family obligations. Thus the navy only expects 80-90 percent of the reservists called, to be able to go to an overseas combat zone. A small number just don't show up, and these are usually expelled from the reserves.

 

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