Stretched Past the Breaking Point

In a relatively unprecedented move - not publicly announced by the administration - the Wall Street Journal says that the Army is going to allow three complete divisions and an armored cavalry regiment to fall to C-4 readiness levels; that is, unprepared to go to war. This is as clear a sign as it is possible to get from this secrecy shrouded administration that our armed forces are stretched beyond their ability to quickly recover from missions.

By allowing units to drop to a level at which they aren't ready for war, the Pentagon is taking a calculated gamble that it won't have to fight a sudden war with a major force like North Korea on very short notice. "You are taking the risk because you don't want to take risk in some place like Iraq," Mr. Goure said. "You want to make sure those people have absolutely everything that they need."

Said one senior Army official who had been briefed on the plans: "This is a huge culture shift for the Army. We don't underestimate how difficult this will be."

This will allow returning soldiers time to be with their families and to take care of personal business before having to "recover" to higher readiness levels. Making this kind of concession to real life is remarkable for BushCo; doing so without letting anyone know (why or the implications) is more typical.

And of course, this kind of story wouldn't be complete without at least a small helping of hypocrisy on the part of aWol:

Still, the move, which hasn't been publicly announced, could have political implications for President Bush. As a candidate during the 2000 election, he harshly criticized the Clinton administration for allowing two divisions just back from missions in the Balkans to fall to C-4 levels.