Soldiers Survive Combat, then Lose their Jobs

Photo Credit: William B. Plowman For thousands of career-military troops who endured combat and family separations during a dozen years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the end of hostilities brings a new directive from the government — your services are no longer needed.

Even as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Monday that future budget reductions cut “so deep, so quickly, that we cannot shrink the size of our military fast enough,” pinks slip were already on their way to soldiers.

In its first slice at reducing its force under budget pressure, the Army is letting 3,000 G.I.s go in order to thin ranks to 490,000 by the end of next year.

Ten Army officers — colonels and lieutenant colonels — learned while serving in Afghanistan in January that they would be forced to retire later this year.

And those are just the first firings. Tens of thousands more must be cut in the years ahead, and the services readily admit those separations won’t all be voluntary.

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