Army says larger Afghan mission hinges on support units

A senior officer Wednesday expressed concerns about the Army's ability to provide enough troops to support a planned increase in the combat units deployed to Afghanistan.

"Everybody concentrates on combat brigades, but the 'enablers' are what keep me awake at night," said Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff, referring to support troops who typically outnumber combat forces on any forward deployment. "Where are we going to get all those other pieces that are absolutely critical? The demand for them is very, very high."

At a breakfast with reporters, Chiarelli said Afghanistan's lack of transportation and communications infrastructure means that the Army will need more support troops there than in Iraq.

"Without being on the ground to determine how many more enablers you're going to need, it only stands to reason that I need to be looking at solutions to try to provide additional enablers because they're going to be needed," Chiarelli said.

In one of his first steps as commander-in-chief, President Obama plans to meet this afternoon with national security aides and senior military leaders to discuss a range of issues, including the requests for additional combat brigades and support troops in Afghanistan.

But the strains of seven years of heavy overseas deployments make fulfilling these requests a challenge. The Army, Chiarelli said, is "hoping we get relief from requirements in Iraq before we start putting a lot of forces in Afghanistan."

Complicating the Army's deployment issues is a steady up-tick in injured troops who cannot be called again for overseas duty. Chiarelli said the number of the Army's "non-deployables" has risen to about 20,000 soldiers, approximately 2,000 to 3,000 more than several years ago. Meanwhile, repeated deployments with limited time at home have taken their toll on the military, Chiarelli said. To take some of the strain off existing units, the Army is trying to enlarge its force by 65,000 soldiers to reach an active-duty end strength of 547,400. "My big concern with the force today is looking at getting it built as quickly as we possibly can and ensure that we have our formations as trained, as ready, as we possibly can," Chiarelli said.