Tuesday, June 08, 2004

WHO KNEW?
Appears GEN Myers was in the neighborhood. Perhaps I live in a cave...but I never heard a word about it.
The chance of another extension for 1st Armored Division troops in Iraq is slim but not entirely out of the question, Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday.

“… In the security business, never say never,” Myers said in brief news conference after visiting Germany-based 1st AD families. “Security’s too much of an important issue. But, the likelihood of [an extension] is very, very small.”

Originally scheduled to return from Iraq in April, the 1st Armored Division was extended an additional 90 days downrange.

Myers offered his support to the families before returning stateside from last weekend’s D-Day commemoration events in Normandy, France.

He stopped Monday in the 1st AD communities of Baumholder and Wiesbaden, headquarters of the division. Family members from Giessen and Hanau, also in the 1st AD footprint, attended the meeting in Wiesbaden, according to Hilde Patton, V Corps spokeswoman.

2 comments:

timsarmywifey said...

Gen. Myers was supposed to come at the same time as SMA Preston but was testifying before congress. So I guess he showed up now........that's ok I didn't know either!!

Anonymous said...

This DoD article goes into more details than Stars & Stripes:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2004/n06072004_200406077.html

The key paragraph states:

The chairman took questions from the spouses. Most wanted to know whether the division would be extended in Iraq again. He said it would take extraordinary events in Iraq before he would bring that recommendation to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. He told the spouses that the decision to extend the division was a tough one, but given the events in the country, it was unavoidable.

I feel strongly that at least this time around, they are more prepared than the early April confusion and scrambling. Sounds like they have worked out what these "extraordinary events" could be (one must be outright Iraq civil War). Also, General Myers is definitely ahead of the game and will be able to make a quick recommendation to Don Rumsfeld. One can probably safely assume that the entire scenario planning has already been done with General Abbizaid, Sanchez, Metz, etc.

Thus, we just have to look at the bright side, knowing that if they really have to be extended again, the decision making and announcement will be much swifter!

John, Frequent Reader and Father of 1AD Soldier