7/12/2003
Washington, D.C.
Press Releases

Congressman Reyes questions General Tommy Franks on troop morale at House Armed Services Committee hearing

Lessons learned from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom were debated before the House Armed Services Committee Thursday, July 10th, 2003. General Tommy Franks, Former Commander, U.S. Central Command appeared before the committee.

Congressman Reyes, D-El Paso, participated in the hearing and asked the following question:

Reyes: Soldiers in the Third Infantry Division have seen their commanders change command and leave – in fact, almost every commanding officer at every level will have been replaced by the end of the month – and yet the soldiers remain. As you can see in the face of this young soldier as pictured on the cover of Tuesday’s New York Times, the morale of our troops is low. Their families are becoming disillusioned. We need to be able to give our hardworking soldiers and their dedicated families real answers to questions of when they can be expected to return home.

Franks: Soldiers of the three currently deployed brigades of the Third Infantry Division are expected to return home by the end of September.

Reyes also questioned the end-strength of the Army. “We need to not overstrain our soldiers - especially Reservists and Guardsmen who place their careers on hold to serve our nation. The Army’s end-strength is currently 483,000 soldiers. With the addition of the Reserves and Guard,
end-strength is more than one million soldiers. With current commitments around the world in Bosnia, Korea, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and pending commitments on the African continent and who knows where else, do you believe that we need to increase the end-strength of the Army,” asked Reyes.

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Kira Maas
202-225-4831