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Latest stop-loss freezes soldiers in deploying units

by Joe Burlas

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Feb. 24, 2003) - Mirroring the Reserve-Component stop-loss measure designed to keep deploying units manned with soldiers who have trained and worked together as a team, the Army is implementing a unit stop-loss for the active force.

Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) Reginald J. Brown approved this latest of eight stop-loss measures Feb. 14. The initiative is targeted for selected units that have already deployed or have been alerted for deployment into the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.

"This new policy supports the stability and strengthens unit cohesiveness and teamwork of deploying AC forces and will bolster the trust and confidence of our soldiers as they prepare to deploy," said Lt. Gen. John M. Le Moyne, G1.

The Army is also extending current tours in Korea by 90 days in order to keep the force there fully manned.

With the exception of the RC stop-loss announcement, previous measures targeted soldiers with specific skills in which Army faced a potential shortage. The skill-based stop loss has kept soldiers from voluntarily separating from the Army for a 12-month period.

The new AC unit stop-loss policy is currently open-ended, an official said, and is expected to be lifted when the Combatant Commands recommend the Army lift it based on stability of the operational environment.

The AC Unit Stop-Loss impacts soldiers when their unit is alerted for deployment into the CENTCOM AOR unless one of the following conditions apply:

• The soldier is within 14 days of an approved separation date and from the effective date of AC unit stop loss.
• The soldier is already on terminal leave with an approved separation date.
• The soldier has already shipped household goods in preparation for transition from service.
• The soldier is already impacted by an earlier stop-loss measure, in which case the earlier 12-month measure will be used to determine when the soldier can volunteer for separation. The Army Personnel Command remains the Stop-Loss exception-to-policy authority for soldiers with compassionate or other compelling reasons to separate, officials said.

Stop-Loss does not prohibit commanders from moving forward on involuntary separations, they said.

Stop Move, the suspension of PCS moves, was also announced in December for AC units already deployed or alerted for deployment into the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. Because the stop-move policy will keep many soldiers from moving from their current unit to their next assignment in Korea, the Army is extending the tours of soldiers currently assigned in Korea by 90 days. This measure has been approved by DoD, officials said, and affected soldiers in Korea have been notified of their extension by the chain of command.

"When we were working stop-move, we saw there was going to be a delta between what Korea needs in the way of manning and what the measure was going to do to soldiers on orders for Korea," said Col. Bob Ortiz, chief of Enlisted Distribution & Readiness for the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1. "Involuntary foreign-service tour extensions for Korea make up the difference between the number of soldiers no longer available to PCS to Korea under stop-move and what Korea needs to maintain personnel readiness."

MILPER message 03-93 states the extensions can be up to 180 days, but Ortiz said that review of current needs in Korea revised that figure to just 90 days.

(Editor's note: Staff Sgt. Marcia Triggs contributed to this article.)