Commanders are assessing the situation on the ground now, but Gen. Richard Cody, the Army Vice Chief of Staff, said it will take until at least June to shrink average deployments back to 12 months while maintaining the 158,000 troops now deployed in the region.

Deployment News and Resources

"It's going to take a while to get off the 15 months," he said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday.

He faced questions at every meeting with troops and commanders about the extended deployments and sought to reassure them it was a temporary measure designed to get enough soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan while giving them at least a year to rest and train between deployments.

"It was supposed to be interim and is not and will not be permanent," he said in a meeting with leaders of the 4th Infantry Division, which is preparing to return to Iraq late this year.

Many members of the division are on their second and third deployments to Iraq.

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