[SFCRamFan]

I think that it is a tasteless way to display what he was trying to say. He could have used another analogy to show that we are stretched thin as an army.

We have the personnel necessary to support the war. However, we are an all volunteer military and fewer people have volunteered since we entered Iraq. Many have died, some have retired and some others have been allowed to get out as their enlistment expires. That leaves fewer and fewer of us to continue to do the same job. That is why they use stop loss on some units or military occupations.

It is our job, and we understand that. However, the long times away are having a huge effect on family stability. Many soldier's kids are acting out, misbehaving or running away with one or both of their parents deploying time and again. In addition, our divorce rate is rising as people go away for either multiple deployements or extremely long deployments.

Most soldiers understand that going to war is always a possiblity. However, the last five years are beginning to have an effect on morale due to time away from family. It is understandable. As the Iraqis take over more of the security, we will have to deploy fewer of our people and hopefully for shorter lengths of time.