WASHINGTON — Confronted with the increasing demands of the Iraq war, the Pentagon announced plans Thursday to recall Army National Guard units that have already fought in Iraq to serve second tours, reversing a long-standing policy that allowed Guard members to return home for five years before being redeployed.
No new Guard units have been included in the first wave of forces going to Iraq as part of President Bush's 21,500-troop increase announced Wednesday night, and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the change in policy was made independently of the Iraq buildup.
Other Pentagon officials have acknowledged that additional Guard and Army Reserve units are essential to sustaining Bush's increase in combat forces in Iraq over the course of the year. The military will probably need to tap previously deployed Guard units this fall to keep 20 combat brigades in Iraq, the level of the buildup.
Army Reserve units also are affected by the policy change.
"The reserve components are going to have to help bear the burden," said a senior military official, who discussed internal Pentagon decision-making on condition of anonymity. "I would presume by this time next year, we would be calling on our reserve-component brigades to contribute in Iraq."
Gates also announced he had asked the president to expand the Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 troops, arguing the military's land forces must be increased to meet ongoing threats beyond the Iraq campaign.
Under the plan, the Army would grow by 65,000, to 547,000 soldiers -- the biggest since the end of the Cold War -- and the Marine Corps by 27,000, to 202,000. Like the new Guard policy, the decision to enlarge ground forces would be a reversal for the Bush administration.
As Defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld, who recently resigned, long objected to expanding the Army and Marines, arguing it would be too costly. The administration's demurral means the expansion would not help alleviate the strain on the Army and Marines for several years, the time it would take to reach the new limits.
"It will take some time for these new troops to become available for deployment," Gates said Thursday at a congressional hearing. "But it is important that our men and women in uniform know that additional manpower and resources are on the way."
