Contractors will also be used to provide logistical and training support and reduce the numbers of troops down as well, Keane said.
Although he didn’t say specifically what they were, Keane said that quality of life and incentive issues to support the year-long rotations will be established.
The plan, as envisioned, “will allow time for the security situation to improve” in Iraq, Keane said.
Keane also announced the rotation schedule for Bosnia, Kosovo, the Sinai and Afghanistan. Deployments to those theaters will continue to be six months.
A brigade from the 10th Mountain Division will replace the one from the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan by August.
The 34th Infantry Division, from Minnesota, will replace the 35th ID in Bosnia by September, and the 28th ID, from Pennsylvania, in Kosovo by February.
Sister battalions in the 34th ID will replace each other in the Sinai by January.
Unit manning during deployments has always been a challenge throughout the Army’s history and subsequent policies have done their best to address the theater commander’s needs, said Keane.
Entire units were deployed for “the duration” of World War II, said Keane. The one exception to that were aircraft crews who flew a set number of missions before going back to the U.S. for training, Keane said.
A unit rotation schedule was developed for combat units during the Korean War depending on that unit’s job. Infantry, tank and artillery units spent six months on the front; administrative and support units had 12-month deployments. Eventually a complicated point system for individual soldiers was worked out, Keane said.
During Vietnam, a soldier spent one year in country on an individual basis. It didn’t matter what job he held, Keane said.
In 1982, a six-month deployment was used for the Sinai mission.
A 12-month deployment was used initially in Bosnia but then a six-month deployment system was developed in 1996. That system has been used since and now is used in Kosovo, he said.
The six-month unit deployments are in use today in Afghanistan, said Keane.
Currently the Army has 368,000 soldiers deployed to 120 countries around the world, Keane said. There are 133,000 soldiers in Iraq with another 34,000 soldiers in Kuwait supporting them. Keane did not say how many were active Army, National Guard or Army Reserve.
More than 30,000 soldiers are in Korea; 1,000 are in the Phillippines; 1,500 soldiers are serving in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; 5,100 soldiers serve in the Balkans; and just under 10,000 are in Afghanistan.
More than 28,000 soldiers, most from the National Guard and Reserve, are deployed in the U.S. for homeland security.
Twenty-four of the 33 active Army Brigade Combat Teams, or 73 percent, are deployed overseas.
Fifteen of the National Guard’s 45 Enhanced Separate Battalion Combat Teams, or 33 percent are also deployed overseas, Keane said.
