Army chief talks new deployments; 'grave' readiness concern | Army Times | armytimes.com: Soldiers will soon see new deployments and rotations to hot spots around the world, even as the Army slashes its active-duty force to fit a tightening budget.
“Today we have soldiers deployed on missions in Europe, in Asia, in the Middle East, in Africa, all doing very important missions simultaneously,” said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno in an exclusive interview Sept. 25 with Army Times.
One of Odierno’s top concerns is making sure these soldiers are ready and properly trained before they deploy, he said, but that’s getting tougher and tougher. Heavy and rapid budget cuts are steadily chipping away at the force, and readiness is the next victim.
Russian aggression, the increasing threat of the Islamic State group and the impending deployment of “probably thousands of soldiers” to fight Ebola has Odierno worried.
