End to Stop-Loss Sought

A Defense Department spokesman says Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates would like to "end stop-loss altogether as rapidly as possible." Stop-loss prevents service members from leaving active duty when their term of service ends, in order to ensure that mission-essential units are fully manned. The armed forces implemented stop-loss shortly after the onset of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Army is the only service using stop-loss, and is presently manned by 13,200 soldiers who otherwise would have left. Meanwhile, Congress has authorized DoD to pay service members affected by stop-loss an extra $500 per month.