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So what you've done over the last nine years has been absolutely phenomenal
and nothing short of incredible. [Ritterby] In his State of the Army address,
Army Chief of Staff General George Casey said the Army has been stretched and stressed
as it has led the nation in its longest war with an all-volunteer force.
Over a million soldiers have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
More than 4,000 of them have given their lives, leaving over 20,000 surviving family members.
Another 28,000 soldiers have been wounded, 7,500 of them seriously enough to require
long-term care. [Ritterby] Casey said the Army has made great
progress in the past few years towards restoring balance.
He said the Army can begin to breathe again. In fact, by the end of next year, I anticipate
that we will be able to put the Army on a sustainable deployment tempo
where we will have about as many units trained and ready to deploy
as we will have going to Iraq and Afghanistan. [Ritterby] Casey said that progress is making
a big difference for the Army. He pointed out that since 2007, the Army has
increased by almost 95,000 soldiers. That growth plus the drawdown in Iraq is what's
allowing us to continuously improve the time our soldiers
spend at home, to improve our dwell.
And as I've been here, it's become clearer and clearer to me
that the most important thing we can do to restore balance to the Army
is to increase our dwell, to increase the time that our soldiers spend at home.
[♪upbeat music♪] That's the Army Today.