AN ARGUMENT FOR A BIGGER ARMY: “The bottom line is that the stress of combat has a cumulative psychological effect on soldiers. Today, after about 300 days of action, it’s time to put that soldier into a non-combat job. . . . The army wants to give the troops 2-3 years between combat tours, but there are not enough combat brigades to do that at current force levels in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus the army will have to be increased in size, or the number of troops reduced in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Note that this is distinct from, but related to, the question of whether we should have more troops in Iraq or Afghanistan now.

UPDATE: Somewhat related post on the latter topic from Mike Rappaport.