With the recent tragic event at Fort Hood, I wonder if anyone will stop and consider the operational tempo our men and women in today's military are faced with.
I am retired from the USAF. I have a son in the USAF who just returned from a six-month deployment to Afghanistan.
Many of the young men and women at places like Fort Hood have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan four and five times for six to 18 months at a time, facing conditions and dangers that most of us can't even imagine.
I hear lots of political rhetoric about how great they are and what a wonderful job they are doing. We now debate a plus-up of the number of troops we have in place.
Where will these troops come from? From the same resources we have in place. They'll just go more frequently.
Is anybody going to realize that there is a breaking point and we are rapidly reaching it?
Robert Smith
Sebring

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