Photo By Staff Sgt. Kimberly Johnson | Army Chief of Staff, Gen. George W. Casey Jr. (standing), shares a laugh with United...... read more read more
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BAGHDAD – Gen. George W. Casey Jr., 36th Army chief of staff, visited United States Division – Center soldiers Dec. 25 at Camp Liberty, Iraq.
Casey and his wife, Sheila, spent their last Christmas before he retires from the Army talking, eating and posing for photos with soldiers in Baghdad.
During a town hall meeting, Casey discussed concerns facing the military and reminded soldiers of the Army’s strength, the direction the military is going in the 21st century and commended them, as a whole, for a job well done.
“We’re finally getting to the point, after five or six years, where we can breathe again,” Casey said. “The fact that we’re getting to a sustainable deployment tempo for our soldiers and families is going to enable us to hold this all-volunteer force together for the long haul.”
Casey said according to all the studies conducted on soldiers who deployed in the last 10 years, it takes two to three years to recover from a one-year combat deployment. He said although soldiers are resilient, when turned around to deploy faster than the time needed to recover, the effects build up quickly.
Because of the high tempo and demands put on soldiers after Sept. 11, 2001, the Army has increased its size by almost 100,000 soldiers since 2007, and refocused strategies from Cold War to urban tactics, Casey said.
“While we’ve been growing the Army, we’ve also been completing a transformation of the Army from a very good Cold War Army, to an Army designed to handle the challenges of the latter part of the 20th century,” he said. “We have rebalanced many soldiers away from Cold War skills, to skills more necessary for today’s challenges in the Middle East.”
Casey said the Army has stood down about 200 tank companies, air defense and artillery batteries, and stood up a corresponding number of Special Forces, civil affairs and military police companies.
“We are a fundamentally different Army than on Sept. 11, 2001; and a better one,” he said.
Casey said he specifically wanted soldiers to understand that although the defense budget is being reduced, it is still almost three times what it was in 2001, and family programs are the last items to cut down on budgeting.
“We are committed to the families who sacrifice so much and we are committed to you Soldiers,” he said.
Capt. James A. Battle, an aviation liaison officer with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, United States Division – Center and a Newport News, Va., native, said Casey’s visit boosts soldiers’ morale, knowing their senior leadership believes in them and still has trust and confidence in what they are doing while deployed.
“Gen. Casey took the time out of his busy schedule to come see us, to spend Christmas with us, give us coins and actually took the time to sit down and talk with us about what to expect in the future of the Army,” Battle said. “He did a good battlefield circulation throughout the area of operation and made sure he made contact with as many troops as possible—it was smiling faces the whole time. The fact he came to visit us on his last Christmas before retiring, to show his gratitude and appreciation for what we do, means a lot to us.”
Before wrapping up his visit to USD-C headquarters, Casey told the soldiers to remain steady and focused.
“I have spent the first 30 years of my career training to fight a war I never had to fight and the last 10 years learning to fight a war as it’s going on,” Casey said. “As resilient as we have been in meeting the challenges of this war, we must also prepare for the challenges of the second decade of this century. This war is a long-term ideological struggle against violent extremism, and our job is not done yet.”
| Date Taken: | 12.25.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 12.27.2010 01:56 |
| Story ID: | 62644 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 34 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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