Under federal law, the Pentagon can involuntarily extend the Estimated Time of Service (ETS) for any military personnel currently serving in active duty.

The policy has been controversial. Republican Sen. John McCain has called it a "back-door draft" as have many Democrats. "Stop-loss" had been used before during the first Gulf War to rapidly build troop strength, but it never has been utilized for an extended occupation.

Some military families have said it places an unfair burden of sacrifice on volunteer soldiers, especially as several soldiers who'd already served their required time have been killed while being extended.

"I did my contract, you know. I did what I was supposed to do, I did my obligation, and I wanted to get out."

Thousands of soldiers are forbidden to leave military service under the Army's "stop-loss" orders, intended to stanch the seepage of troops, through retirement and discharge, from a military stretched thin by its burgeoning overseas missions.

"Our goal is, we want to have units that are stabilized all the way down from the lowest squad up through the headquarters elements." Said Brig. Gen. Howard B. Bromberg, director of enlisted personnel management in the Army's Human Resources Command. "Stop-Loss allows us to do that. When a unit deploys, it deploys, trains and does its missions with the same soldiers."

"To many of the soldiers whose retirements and departures are on ice, however, stop-loss is an inconvenience, a hardship and, in some cases, a personal disaster. Some are resigned to fulfilling what they consider the patriotic duty. Others are livid, insisting they have fallen victim to a policy that amounts to an unannounced, unheralded draft."

"Most soldiers retained by the Army under stop-loss are more resigned than irate, but no less demoralized by what some have come to regard as their involuntary servitude."

TROOP DEPLOYMENT EXTENSIONS

(Washington – beginning immediately) All active-duty Army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will serve 15-month tours – three months longer than the usual standard, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.

Gates acknowledged that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are making life difficult for many in the military.

"Our forces are stretched, there's no questions about that," Gates said.

The announcement "just underscores the fact that the burden of the war in Iraq has fallen upon our troops and their families," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California.

“There is a gradual wearing down, both mental and physical. Every time you leave this base you might not come back, and they go out every day. I guess there is a kind of numbing. By the nine-month mark, they really start to wear out. Conversation gets short.”—Chaplain Tom McCort