Article: Army's civil-affairs units stretched thin; Iraq, Afghan duty deplete force.(NATION)

Byline: Rowan Scarborough, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The ongoing rotation of new ground forces into Iraq this year will leave the military with fewer civil-affairs soldiers - the personnel who fix schools, buy textbooks, provide electric generators and build housing.

Most civil-affairs soldiers are members of the Army Reserve. Planners are finding there are not sufficient numbers left in reserve to replace the ones going off active duty after one-year stints in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Brig. Gen. David N. Blackledge, chief of the 352nd Civil Affairs Command, told reporters yesterday in Baghdad that "unfortunately" more than 80 percent of all ...

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