Troops need a vacation too

In coverage of the war involving troop interviews, a few recurring points often come up:

• Extended campaigns - many of the troops are on their 3rd or 4th campaign. These campaigns are now up to 18 months long, with a mere 2 week vacation inbetween.
• False completion dates - the troops are told they are on their final campaign, and then weeks or even days before they are to return home, are forced to return to duty on a brand-new campaign despite the previous promises.
  
• Extensive stress - troops are working 12 hour days, and those days are putting them in a constant state of stress from car bombs, difficult friend/foe distinction, language barriers, and vague mission requirements.
• Minimal time with family - the 2 week vacation inbetween campaigns does not include the 4 days of transit time on both sides. Also, family members are not always clearly told the exact dates of the 6-10 days their loved one will be in the US. As a result, family may not get the time off work they need, and are only able to spend 1-2 weekend days with their troop on leave.

So the bill in congress to deal with these issues FAILED TO PASS recently. It turns out that the Democrats needed a 60 vote super-majority to get this through, and the Republicans have just enough power left to prevent this from happening.

It seems a common political tactic is to argue about which side "cares about our troops" more. Putting aside the debate over pulling out or not, it seems that giving a stressed soldier the proper amount of R&R should be a priority for the politicians who decide to put the troops in harms way. Somehow, Bush got out of even having to get involved in the decision because of his loyal Republican colleagues in Congress. This is a real disappointment.