I'm sure you all got the message traffic about Sailors filing support rolls on the ground in Iraq and The Stan.  Well, I spoke with a couple E-8's that work down in D.C. this week.  Not sure how accurate it is but they said USN plans to occupy 35% of all ground forces in theater by end fiscal year 2007.  Right now the deal is that Adm. Cotton is volunteering 14,000 reservists for support rolls.  You go to the Army for 2 months before going to Iraq.

The thinking behind this is the army cannot meet recruiting and retention goals and USN with our trend in downsizing has a lot of spare bodies..

Anyone else hear this?  Some of the pilots were thinking that it will lead to USN actually sending people to army infantry to fill vacant combat billets.  

The Navy's stated goal is to have 17,000 people supporting CENTCOM missions by the end of the fiscal year.

Our command is already pinging for volunteers..  I am torn between army WCO attemp and this if it is something other than a desk job..

My command has been hit hard since October. It's not likely to stop anytime soon.

Well, we have a bunch of "dead weight" so to speak.  Nobody picked yet but when we transitioned from VP to VR we were left with manning for 6 planes but we only have three.  Some transferred out and the command did what they could to fill billets for those who didnt want to relocate to a new reserve center to drill.  I see some of these weekenders that come in, muster and disappear for 2 days getting hit for this..