How much damage is Iraq doing to the Army?

This is not damage done by bombings, but damage done by overtaxing the force on what many see as a failed mission. We know about the difficultly in recruiting, but another major issue will be retention of the professional trooper.

A third generation West Point Grad, Lucian K. Truscott IV, has an Op-Ed in the times that is very telling.

My class, that of 1969, set a record with more than 50 percent resigning within a few years of completing the service commitment. (My father's class, 1945, the one that "missed" World War II, was considered to be the previous record-holder, with about 25 percent resigning before they reached the 20 years of service entitling them to full retirement benefits.)

And now, from what I've heard from friends still in the military and during the two years I spent reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan, it seems we may be on the verge of a similar exodus of officers. The annual resignation rate of Army lieutenants and captains rose to 9 percent last year, the highest since before the Sept. 11 attacks. And in May, The Los Angeles Times reported on "an undercurrent of discontent within the Army's young officer corps that the Pentagon's statistics do not yet capture."

The damage done to this nation by Bush's war may not be known for years. It is anyone's guess what state the Army will be left in, but all the signs we can currently see are not good.