WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense officials say the Army is sending large units back to Iraq without giving them at least a year at home, the second time that's happened since the war began.
Among those making the quick turnaround is the 18th Airborne Corps based at Fort Bragg.
A senior Army official requesting anonymity says the Army will try not to shorten the time that troops spend in the US, but the official adds, quote, "but in this case we had to. Obviously right now the Army is stretched."
A combat brigade from New York and a Texas headquarters unit will return to Iraq this summer in order to maintain through August the military buildup President Bush announced earlier this year. The Pentagon says seven-thousand troops will be going to Iraq in the coming months as part of the effort to keep 20 brigades in the country to help bolster the Baghdad security plan.
A brigade is roughly 3,000 soldiers.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
