WASHINGTON - The Senate voted yesterday to increase the size of the Army by 20,000 soldiers in an effort to ease the strain on a military with commitments across the globe.
"Our Army is overstretched," said Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat and a former Army officer who sponsored the measure as an amendment to the $447 billion defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2005.
"Our commitments in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world are going to require a substantially larger army for an indefinite period of time."
Want it or not
Top Army officials say the current size of the force is sufficient, and they have expressed concern that a congressionally ordered permanent increase in the number of troops could drain billions of dollars from critical Pentagon programs.
But Congress appears headed toward approving a permanent increase, whether the Pentagon has requested it or not. The vote on Reed's amendment was 93-4.
In its version of the defense authorization bill last month, the House overwhelmingly approved an increase of 30,000 soldiers and 9,000 Marines by 2007.
Rep. John M. McHugh, a New York Republican who is chairman of the House Armed Services total force subcommittee, said in an interview, "I think we need to send a symbolic message to our troops that we get it, and we understand they're stressed, and we're acting on it."
The legislative action comes partly in response to the political heat that lawmakers have felt from the families of members of battle-weary National Guard and Reserve units that have spent months in Iraq.
"I regret that we're here having to force an increase in the size of the Army," said Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican and another sponsor of the measure.
He complained that some of the problems in Iraq have stemmed from "too few boots on the ground."
"Why were they so reluctant to send additional troops?" McCain asked. `'The dirty little secret is they didn't have them."
In recent months, the Army has added about 13,000 troops to its congressionally mandated force of about 482,000.
This increase is largely the result of re-enlistment incentives and the use of "stop-loss" orders, which prohibit soldiers from leaving or retiring if their units are within 90 days of deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Violence in Iraq
The move to increase the size of the Army comes amid continuing turmoil in Iraq, which has forced the Pentagon to increase, rather than reduce, troop strength in that country and extend tours of duty for thousands of soldiers.
The United States expects to keep about 138,000 troops in Iraq through 2005, and the Pentagon recently announced that it was sending at least 3,500 troops from South Korea to Iraq.
Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, who has made a campaign issue of President Bush's handling of the Iraq war and has previously called for increasing the military by 40,000 troops, was absent for the vote.
Kerry, who was campaigning in Detroit, supported the increase in troop strength, said spokesman Andy Davis.
The Los Angeles Times is a Tribune Publishing newspaper.
