By LOLITA BALDOR
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Army’s top general said Tuesday that lengthening U.S. tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan beyond the current 15 months would be too stressful and risky for troops. Gen. George Casey, the Army’s chief of staff, also said he didn’t know when officials would be able to cut the length of soldiers’ tours back to 12 months.

“I don’t see going beyond the 15 months,” Casey said. “I’ve been there in Iraq, I’ve watched the nature of the combat and the stresses and strains that it puts on these soldiers.”

He said the 90-day extension ordered by officials earlier this year can pass quickly, but staying longer would hurt troops.

“Any more than that, it puts our soldiers at a level of stress and a level of risk that right now I’m not comfortable with,” he told reporters in an appearance at the National Press Club. “So it would be very hard for me to recommend going beyond the 15 months and … we want to get down from 15 months as quickly as we can.”

In an often blunt assessment of the state of the Army, Casey acknowledged that the long and repeated battlefield tours have knocked the Army out of balance, so it can no longer provide ready forces as quickly as it should for other missions.

“We’re consumed with meeting the current demands and we’re unable to provide ready forces as rapidly as we would like for other contingencies, nor are we able to provide an acceptable tempo of deployments to sustain our soldiers and families for the long haul,” said Casey. Before taking over as chief of the Army earlier this year, Casey was the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

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