Associated Press | January 12, 2007
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has abandoned its limit on the time a Citizen-Soldier can be required to serve on active duty, officials said Thursday, a major change that reflects an Army stretched thin by longer-than-expected combat in Iraq.
The day after President Bush announced his plan for a deeper U.S. military commitment in Iraq, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters the change in reserve policy would have been made anyway because active-duty troops already were getting too little time between their combat tours.
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This is pretty much bullshit, but not unexpected. I'm very happy that I have my honorable discharge in hand now. There is essentially no distinction between Reserve and Active Component forces now in terms of deployments, since either one can be deployed indefinitely without any required time between deployments. Since the "War on Terror" is not a declared war on an enemy state, but rather an unwinnable war like the "War on Crime", there is also no hope that the current state of conflict will end in the foreseeable future.
Net effect - if you're in the reserves you might want to consider just putting your life on hold and join the active component (if possible) since the pay, advancement, and benefits are all better and you'll probably be deploying about as much either way.