Pentagon's New Deploy-or-Out Policy Could Separate Up to 286K

The Pentagon's new "deploy-or-out" policy could result in the separation from military service of possibly 286,000 personnel who are currently deemed medically unfit for overseas duty.

"This new policy is a 12-month deploy or be removed policy," Robert Wilkie, the undersecretary of defense for Personnel and Readiness, told the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel Wednesday.

Wilkie said there would be exceptions for pregnancies and the services would also be able to retain wounded troops who are cleared by medical boards.

"On any given day, about 13 to 14 percent of the force is medically unable todeploy -- that comes out to be around 286,000 service members," Wilkie said.

The new policy grew out of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' directive last summer to the services to take steps to improve the "lethality" of the force in overseas operations. Mattis' guidance said the services' actions should be "designed to ensure our military is ready to fight today and in the future."

The solution the services came up with required service members to be deployable within 12 months or be forced out of the military.

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