Exiting Army Sec praises troops: Eight years of war and an all-volunteer Army

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted yesterday to send the nomination of Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.) to become the next Army secretary to the full Senate, making his confirmation imminent. (Alas, he still hasn’t clarified his Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell position.) So Pete Geren, the current Army secretary, takes to the Army’s blog to say farewell:

This is the longest war that we have ever fought with an All-Volunteer Force. When the question was raised 30 years ago, when we launched the experiment of the all volunteer Army, if we could stay at war for eight years and not have to resort to the draft, most said, “No way.” They were wrong. Our Soldiers and Army Families proved them wrong.

Not everyone would see that as an unmitigated good thing — We sure showed the critics that we can have a manpower-intensive series of indefinite wars! — but Geren’s heart is clearly in the right place.

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