Reforms to lessen
troops’ load
Some reservists face nearly back-to-back combat tours, but a general says there are reforms under way that will ensure the soldiers will be activated only once every four to five years.
Lt. Gen. James Helmly, chief of the Army Reserve, who arrived here Saturday after visits to South Korea and Guam, said yesterday that his force is being restructured by creating more military police and civil affairs units, which have been in great demand recently during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"This will give us depth," said Helmly, who saw two combat tours in Vietnam. "We can rotate forces so you don't have to come back to the same soldier time and again. ... We are trying to build sufficient rotation depth so we don't have, under today's conditions, to mobilize a soldier more than a nine- to 12-month period out of a four- to five-year window."
Of the 209,000 soldiers who are members of the Army Reserve, 100,000 have been mobilized since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, said Helmly, who has headed the Army Reserve since March 2002. Fifty-three Army reservists have been killed.
More than 39,000 Army reservists are now on active duty with 23,000 in Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq.
About 600 members of the 411th Engineer Combat Battalion, 300 of whom are from Hawaii, have been in Iraq since March. An additional 623 reservists with 100th Battalion, 200 of whom are from Hawaii, are preparing for an Iraqi deployment. Yesterday an additional 50 island reservists belonging to 793rd Engineer Detachment received their mobilization orders.
The Army Reserve reported yesterday that Sgt. Aaron Carvalho, a member of Hilo's Alpha Company, 411th Engineers, is recuperating at Tripler Army Medical Center. He was wounded Aug. 21 during a convoy operation when an improvised explosive device exploded under his vehicle. He is believed to be the second 411th member wounded in combat.
On Sunday, Helmly visited Carvalho at Tripler and presented him with a Purple Heart for wounds he suffered on his thigh, calf and arm.
When asked whether soldiers like the 100th Battalion will get more training in the handling of prisoners of war following the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, Helmly said: "I won't say because of them they are getting more. They are required to receive some."
There is now "a heightened sensitivity," Helmly said, to the Geneva Convention and interrogation techniques. Yesterday, he cautioned soldiers of the 100th Battalion that they can expect to face similar situations.
