Small Wars Journal

Back to Garrison Life After Years at War

Sun, 01/19/2014 - 8:42am

Back to Garrison Life After Years at War by Thom Shanker, New York Times

… A dozen years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, most of the two million American men and women who went to war are home, adjusting to new lives. Slightly more than half remain in the armed services, where many are struggling — like America’s ground forces over all — to find relevance in the face of an uncertain future.

Their restlessness is a particular challenge for the Army, which sent 1.3 million troops to war after 9/11 and created the most combat-tested force in the nation’s history. But now it must sustain the morale of soldiers who have returned to American bases and are living what the military calls garrison life...

Read on.

Comments

Hammer999

Sat, 02/01/2014 - 6:18am

Challenges? Don't you mean kicked to the curb? Troops want realistic, advanced training. Do that and you can keep them under wraps. Military schools, send them. The Army is horrible at managing training. If I can pass a PT test before I go, and another when I get there, and feel ok, what do I need a medical packet taking 3-4 months to complete, to ranger school for? Useless requirements and excessive paperwork will plague us back in garrison. They do already. I have to plan ranges 3-6 months or more in advance, just to shoot a zero or qualify? I can grab my AR and some ammo and zero it after work tonight. Yes we have to manage resources, yes there are constraints, but how we operated in garrison, for those of use who remember pre 9/11 was horrid. Combat Soldiers didn't join the Army to be safe, or they would have chosen something else. But doing anything risky is an absolute no no... In fact we have reduced skills sets to reduce chances of "What if something happened...".