Sapped by nearly six years of war, the Army has nearly exhausted its fighting force and its options if President Bush decides to extend the Iraq buildup beyond next spring. The Army’s 38 available combat units are deployed, just returning home or already tapped to go to Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere, leaving no fresh troops to replace five extra brigades that Bush sent to Baghdad this year.  That presents several painful choices if the Bush wants to maintain higher troop levels beyond the spring of 2008:

- Using National Guard units on an accelerated schedule. 
- Breaking the military’s pledge to keep soldiers in Iraq for no longer than 15 months. 
- Breaching a commitment to give soldiers a full year at home before sending them back to war.

There are 18 Army brigades in Iraq, each with 3,500 soldiers. At least 13 more brigades are scheduled to rotate in. Two others are in Afghanistan and two additional ones are set to rotate in there. Several other brigades either are set for a future deployment or are scattered around the globe.  The few units that are not at war are penciled in for deployments later in 2008 or into 2009.  Most Army brigades have completed two or three tours in Iraq or Afghanistan; some assignments have lasted as long as 15 months. The 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, has done four tours.  There are 162,000 U.S. troops in Iraq now, the highest level since the war began in 2003. That figure is expected to hit 171,000 this fall as fresh troops rotate in.
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