They're fucking my boys too

You hear all about the Army troopers and Marines having their deployments extended. Well they're doing the same to the Air Expeditionary Forces. This is from Stars and Stripes:

The permanent change to the deployment length starts with airmen in AEF cycle five, who will deploy for 120 days instead of 90 days, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper wrote in his “Sight Picture” policy letter released Friday. That means most airmen in the first cycle will spend the Christmas holidays in the field.

. . .

Master Sgt. Malik Sultan of the 52nd Civil Engineer Squadron at Spangdahlem Air Base will be among the first airmen to deploy in September under the new rotation schedule.

“It’s not surprising to me,” Sultan, 38, of Compton, Calif., said Tuesday. “Our force size is getting smaller and our responsibility is getting larger." [Emphasis mine]

. . .

Senior Airman Mauricio Leon of Ramstein’s 568th Security Forces Squadron is in one of the stressed career fields. Leon said he expects that the 120-day rotation length won’t affect him. Leon, 24, of San Diego, deployed last year to the Middle East for eight months, including four months at Tallil Air Base, Iraq.

“The orders always say 90 days to 120 days, but usually we go for up to 180 days,” Leon said. “You never know when you’re gonna go home.”

Read the whole thing here.

As I've been yelling about since we went to Iraq, WE'RE STRETCHED TOO THIN. Fucking civilian geniuses in the White House and at the Pentagon think they know better than the generals how to run an army. They act like little boys. I'll bet Bush has said more than once, "But it worked on TV." Fucking assholes.