Like when a star dies but the light continues to reach us, there are legacies of the Bush Administration that continue to carry over...minus one:
The military will phase out its "stop-loss" program, the contentious practice of holding troops beyond the end of their enlistments, for all but extraordinary situations, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Wednesday. Instead, the military will use incentive programs to encourage extending service.
The stop-loss program was put into place to ensure that units remained intact during deployment. Tours of duty could be extended for those whose enlistment was due to end in the middle of their unit's deployment.
Currently, the Army is the only service that uses the stop-loss program. As of January 2009, 13,217 soldiers had tours extended under the stop-loss policy.
Well, make that almost minus one, although it's a good first step. That said, there's so much toxic legacy that this Administration could spend its entire first term doing nothing but clean up duty.
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