Policy architect: Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Robert Wilkie this week unveiled Pentagon’s new policy tackling the problem of non-deployable service members
The US Department of Defense has adopted a strict new deployment policy that could cost tens of thousands of non-deployable service members their jobs.
‘This new policy is a 12-month deploy or be removed policy,’ Robert Wilkie, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, told the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on personnel and readiness on Wednesday.
Wilkie said that on any given day, about 286,000 service members are unable to deploy because of medical concerns. That number equals about to 13-14 per cent of the entire military force of the United States.
According to a memorandum issued by Wilkie’s office on Wednesday, service members who have been non-deployable or more than 12 consecutive months, for any reason, ‘will be processed for administrative separation,’ as Military Times first reported.
There will be some exceptions, including pregnancy. Medical boards also will be able to grant exceptions for wounded soldiers.
The new policy, outside in this February 14 memo, calls for removal of service members who have been non-deployable for 12 consecutive months
There will be some exceptions, including pregnancy. Medical boards also will be able to grant exceptions for wounded soldiers
The crackdown on non-deployable service members comes after Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis in July directed Wilkie to identify changes to military personnel policies ‘necessary to provide more ready and lethal forces.’
Mattis’ memo highlighted the need ‘that everyone who comes into the service and everyone who stays in the mservice is world-wide deployable.’
Commander’s order: Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis in July called for changes to military personnel policies ‘necessary to provide more ready and lethal forces’
Service members can become non-deployable for a wide variety of reasons, ranging from medical to administrative.
Command Sgt Major John Troxell, senior enlisted adviser to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joe Dunford, told the Military Times earlier this month that close to 100,000 soldiers are non-deployable because they are not up to date on their vaccinations, or they have failed to undergo medical or dental exams.
Another 160,000 cannot be deployed because of injuries, most of them not related to combat, and the remaining 20,000 are non-deployable because of pregnancy.
Troxell added that having so many non-deployable service members in the ranks puts additional strain on their able-bodied comrades who are being forced to pick up their slack in order to make sure the army’s capability is not degraded.
‘We have to ensure given the climate that this country faces, that everyone who signs up can be deployed to any corner of the world at any given time and that is the reason for the change in policy,’ Wilkie told the Senate panel this week.
On any given day, about 286,000 service members – nearly 14 per cent of the total force – are unable to deploy because of medical or administrative issues