Stardate 20030714.1330

(On Screen): This is a massive mistake.

The Army said Monday that thousands of 3rd Infantry Division soldiers have had their deployment in Iraq extended, dashing hopes that the troops would be home by September.

The 3rd Infantry Division deployed 16,500 troops to Iraq and was a leading force in the assault on Baghdad. The division suffered 36 deaths more than any other unit in the war and some of its troops have been in the region since September.

Maj. Gen. Buford C. Blount III, the division's commander, said last week he hoped the division's 1st and 2nd Brigade Combat Teams of roughly 9,000 soldiers could return home to Fort Stewart within the next six weeks.

But homecomings for those soldiers, as well as the division's 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, have now been postponed indefinitely, Fort Stewart spokesman Richard Olson said Monday.

"Now, that timeframe has basically gone away, and there is no timeframe," Olson said.

Several thousand 3rd Infantry troops, including the 3rd Brigade Combat Team based at Fort Benning in Columbus, began returning last week. Their homecomings are not affected.

The 3rd Infantry Division is a superb unit. Three years from now it's going to be completely useless. And the reason is that the volunteers that make it up are not going to reenlist in sufficient numbers.

The 3rd Division should be home now. I'm aware of the problem on the ground in Iraq, and I'm aware that bodies are needed. But no matter how dire that problem, this is not the right way to solve it.

There was a time when the primary qualification for a soldier was strong arms to carry a weapon and the willingness to follow orders, but that's not the case any longer. A modern American infantryman is highly trained and not easily replaced. We invest a lot of money in every person we put into the field, and that training is perishable.

I'm not convinced that it's actually possible to run the kind of military we have using draftees; I'm pretty certain it is not, in fact. The kind of military we have wins, and it has to be volunteer. But if you abuse volunteers, they won't volunteer again.

The 3rd Infantry Division has done its duty. Some of them have been in theater for nearly a year. (In fact, some of them have been there for more than a year already.) It is time for them to come home.

And if we're concerned about a shortage of troops now, we're going to be damned worried about it three years from now when the re-up rate drops to the floor.