Army Names First Female 4-Star General

(NEWSER) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates is temporarily boosting the Army's ranks with 22,000 new soldiers, reports the Army Times. The increase, which follows a permanent increase of 65,000, will reduce the strain on the forces over the next three years, according to Gates. The hike "will be used to ensure that our deploying units are properly manned and not to create new combat formations," Gates said at the Pentagon yesterday. More»

(NEWSER) - With a little push from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the Army says it has completed its assessment of $3 million worth of high-tech, lightweight body armor and will send it immediately to soldiers in Afghanistan, the New York Times reports. The Army was dragging out testing on the new armor, which takes as much as 25 pounds off soldiers’ loads, worried that combat deaths resulting from the new equipment would raise public ire, the Times reported earlier. More»

Gates announces end to forced extensions

(NEWSER) - The Army plans to stop forcing soldiers to serve again after their enlistment contracts are up, reports the Washington Post. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced plans yesterday to phase out the “stop-loss” program—which keeps soldiers in the Army beyond their service obligation—over the next two years. Some 13,000 soldiers are currently serving under the deeply unpopular program, a number Gates hopes to nearly eliminate by 2011. More»

Automatic promotions are turning battlefield into a classroom, soldiers say

(NEWSER) - The US Army, plagued by a shortage of non-commissioned officers, has lowered the bar for promotion so much that it has produced sergeants who are not ready to lead, Salon reports in an investigation of a military stretched thin by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In some cases, soldiers have been automatically promoted although their unit commanders had found them not ready for advancement. More»

Tours of duty to be cut back to 12 months; Congress to hear troop cut proposals

(NEWSER) - American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are to have their combat tours cut from 15 months to 12 beginning late this summer. The White House plans a formal announcement next week, an insider told the AP. Tours were lengthened last year to boost troop levels in Iraq, and the Army has warned that the "unsustainable" extended deployments are wearing down its soldiers. More»