RC Deployment Rate Drops

By the end of 2005, Reserve and Guard forces accounted for almost 50 percent of the combat troops deployed to Iraq, but that percentage is dropping. For example, the Army National Guard had some 40,000 soldiers deployed. That number has gone down to about 20,000, according to officials, and is expected to level out to slightly less than that. The number of all reservists serving on active duty also has been steadily dropping, according to the Defense Department’s weekly reports, and is now as low as it was during the buildup for the Iraq invasion. Meanwhile the total number of regulars, Reserves and Guard personnel in Iraq is 138,000, which is about the same as it was a year ago. The goal of the reserve components is now to make deployments no more often than five years.