Webb Amendment On Deployment Cycles Gains Momentum With Endorsements And Cosponsors

Bi-Partisan Legislation Wins Support from MOAA, Adjutant Gen. of VA, 32 Senate Co-Sponsors

July 10, 2007 -- Washington, DC — Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) announced today that the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) and Major General Robert B. Newman Jr., the Adjutant General of Virginia, have expressed support for his amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act requiring that active-duty units and troops have at least equal time at home as the length of their previous deployments for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. The amendment also sets a minimum 1-to-3 year ratio for National Guard and Reserve units and members.

Senator Webb’s bi-partisan amendment, introduced yesterday, now has 32 co-sponsors including Senator Chuck Hagel, the lead Republican cosponsor.

(For a copy of the amendment, MOAA letter, complete floor speech, list of co-sponsors and other materials, visit: www.webb.senate.gov.)

In a letter endorsing Senator Webb’s amendment, Vice Admiral Norbert Ryan, Jr., USN (Ret.), President of MOAA, wrote: “On behalf of the 368,000 members of MOAA, I am writing to express MOAA’s support for your amendment that would support our military men and women by establishing standards for dwell time between consecutive operational deployments.

“MOAA is very concerned that steps must be taken to protect our most precious military asset – the all-volunteer force – from having to bear such a disproportionate share of national wartimes sacrifice. If we are not better stewards of our troops and their families in the future than we have been in the recent past, MOAA believes strongly that we will be putting the all-volunteer force at unacceptable risk.”

Major General Robert B. Newman Jr., the Adjutant General of Virginia, also expressed his support for the amendment’s provisions relating to the Guard and Reserve.

As Virginia’s adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Newman is responsible for the Virginia Air National Guard and the Virginia Army National Guard executing their federal and state missions, including operational deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and other overseas locations.

In a July 9 message to Senator Webb, Newman said, “Virginia has proudly sent its Guardsmen to serve on all fronts in the war on terror and will continue to answer the call to duty when our country is in need. It is critical, however, for members of the Virginia National Guard to be able to rely on a predictable mobilization schedule that allows families and employers to anticipate lengthy absences from home and office.” In Newman’s view, it is important “… to consider alternatives such as a minimum dwell time that will provide needed predictability to our Virginia Guardsmen.”

Source: Senator Jim Webb