Kerry Calls For 40,000 More Troops
The Boston Globe
February 16, 2005
WASHINGTON - Senator John F. Kerry yesterday called for the
United States to add 40,000 troops to its ground forces and improve benefits
to military families, the latest in a series of signature issues from his
presidential campaign that he has pledged to push in Congress.
The Massachusetts Democrat, speaking at the Worcester Telegram &
Gazette's Visions Ceremony, said he would soon file legislation that would
address the changes, which he said are necessary if the military is to meet
what he called the emerging challenges of the 21st century --
counterterrorism, peacekeeping, and stability operations.
"Too many of the planners who designed today's defense policies are still
mired in the post-Vietnam doctrine of only fighting 'big wars' against hostile
states, not wars in and against 'failed states' in which enemy armies are the
least of our problems," Kerry said in prepared remarks. "The American military
today is both too small and ill- designed for today's dangers."
Kerry said the Iraq war is stretching American forces too thin. Army units
that used to receive two years between combat deployments are being sent
to their second turn in Iraq after as little as a year. National Guard and
Reserve combat units are almost all locked down in Iraq -- currently there,
recently returned, or about to deploy.
To ease the crunch, Kerry called for increasing the size of the Army by
30,000 and the
Marine Corps by 10,000. The Bush administration has also
proposed increasing U.S. ground forces, but less aggressively. In its 2006
budget request, the Defense Department proposed adding about 20,000 members to
the active- duty Army and about 2,500 troops to the Marine Corps.
Kerry also said the federal government should increase the benefits to
soldiers and their families. He said he would push for a "Military Families
Bill of Rights." The proposal includes extending military health insurance
eligibility to all members of the National Guard and Reserve, mobilized or
not, and expanding death, disability, and mental health benefits for veterans.
"We owe U.S. troops the peace of mind that comes from knowing that
they and their families will be taken care of if they sacrifice life, limb, or
the ability to sleep without war's nightmares," Kerry said.
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