[Peace-discuss] Stop Loss

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

Marines Requiring All to Remain on Duty
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 
Filed at 2:05 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Preparing for possible war against Iraq, the Marine Corps 
has taken the unusual step of stopping all Marines from leaving the service 
for the coming 12 months, officials said Thursday.

The decision was announced to all Marines in an internal message Tuesday from 
Gen. James Jones, the Marine Corps commandant. He said it applies to 
active-duty as well as reserve Marines and is effective Jan. 15 through Jan. 
31, 2004.

The last time the Marines took this action, known as ``stop-loss,'' was 
during the buildup to the 1991 Gulf War, said Capt. Gabrielle Chapin, a 
spokeswoman at the Combat Development Command at Quantico, Va.

Although the order applies to the entire Marine Corps, which has 173,000 men 
and women on active duty and 100,000 in the reserves, some exceptions can be 
made, including for those who already have a retirement date of April 1 or 
earlier. Commanders also can consider exceptions for personal hardship and 
other circumstances.

Separately, 125 Marine Corps reservists with Company A, 8th Tank Battalion, 
based at Fort Knox, Ky., were reporting for active duty Thursday. Sgt. Maj. 
Timothy J. Didas of the 8th battalion said in a telephone interview that the 
reservists are to report to the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, N.C., on 
Friday.

Another 20 reservists in support positions with the 8th battalion, including 
cooks, radio operators and motor vehicle repairmen are being mobilized from 
bases in New York, Kentucky, South Carolina and Miami along with Company A, 
Didas said.

Didas said he had no information on whether the reservists were going to 
deploy to the Persian Gulf area. During the buildup to the 1991 Gulf War the 
entire 8th Tank Battalion was activated and deployed to the Gulf.

Last fall the Army issued ``stop loss'' orders for nearly all its Special 
Forces soldiers, who are heavily engaged in the war in Afghanistan, although 
the action did not apply to the rest of the force. The Marines are the only 
ones to apply a ``stop loss'' action to all service members.

In addition to the approximately 1,000 Marines from the 1st Marine 
Expeditionary Force who recently arrived in Kuwait in anticipation of a 
possible war against Iraq, thousands more are either heading to the Gulf 
region from U.S. bases or are preparing to do so in coming weeks.

Specific figures are classified, but Jones said Wednesday in remarks at the 
National Press Club that if there is a war in Iraq, the Marines likely would 
contribute between 65,000 and 75,000 troops -- mostly from the 1st Marine 
Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

The Pentagon's Iraq war plan calls for the use of up to 250,000 troops from 
all services.

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On the Net:

Marine Corps at http://www.usmc.mil

8th Tank Battalion at http://www.mfr.usmc.mil/4thmardiv/8thTankBn/