Usna...a Crucible For Warriors

[GreatAmerican]

<p>^^^^^
[CNO:</a> Navy content with current IA levels](<a href=“http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/05/navy_seapower_070504w/]CNO:”>http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/05/navy_seapower_070504w/)</p>

<p>

The Navy intends to hold steady its current level of 13,000 individual augmentees in Iraq and elsewhere in Central Command, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullen told lawmakers Thursday in testimony on Capitol Hill.</p>

<p>Appearing before the Senate Armed Services seapower subcommittee, Mullen told members he doesn’t “see anything in the future over the next or three years that I’m able to predict that requirement to be raised dramatically higher.” In a response to a question from Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., Mullen said, “We work very hard to predict how many more there will be.”…

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<p>[More</a> weapons, convoy training for IAs](<a href=“http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/05/navy_iatraining_070509/]More”>http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/05/navy_iatraining_070509/)</p>

<p>

Sailors bound for individual augmentee deployments will soon get more time to learn ground combat skills before going overseas.</p>

<p>That means the current two-week familiarization course in ground combat and survival will increase to nearly three weeks, to allow for more time on the weapons range and more time to absorb important skills…

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<p>[Cotton:</a> IA duty won’t decrease soon](<a href=“http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/02/ntcotton070203/]Cotton:”>http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/02/ntcotton070203/)</p>

<p>

Projected increases in the size of the Army and Marine Corps could reduce the tempo of Navy individual augmentee assignments, but that won’t happen for at least the next five years, the Navy’s top reservist said Thursday.</p>

<p>Last month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates proposed increasing the size of the Army by 65,000 troops and the Marine Corps by 27,000.</p>

<p>Vice Adm. John Cotton said the majority of Navy individual augmentees have been assigned to Army units, but he said Navy reservists can expect a steady rate of individual augmentee assignments in spite of the projected increase in the Army’s size…

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<p>[5</a> admirals pulling IA duty](<a href=“http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/08/navy_iaadmirals_070804w/]5”>http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/08/navy_iaadmirals_070804w/)</p>

<p>

Before arriving in Iraq last year, Rear Adm. Mark Fox, a naval aviator, had never conducted a press conference. But during his nine months in Baghdad, press conferences are a regular part of Fox’s duties as communications chief for the strategic effects component of Multi-National Forces-Iraq.</p>

<p>Fox is one of a handful of Navy flag officers around the globe serving as an individual augmentee, filling billets normally filled by Army officers or soldiers. The admiral is a high-ranking example of the sea service’s expanded mission in support of the war on terrorism.</p>

<p>The Navy estimates about 13,000 sailors and naval officers are serving as IAs — about 5,000 in Iraq…

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