WASHINGTON (AP) – Army Secretary Pete Geren today ruled out extending troop deployments beyond the current 15 months, saying that longer tours in Iraq put stress on soldiers and their families, and have contributed to an increase in suicides.

But Mr. Geren, who was confirmed in the Army’s top civilian post in July, also criticized any congressional efforts to mandate deployment lengths or rest time at home.

In his first extensive interview since taking the job, Mr. Geren offered the most definitive rejection of keeping soldiers at the warfront longer than 15 months, saying he sees “no possibility of that happening.”

“Our goal is to move it the other direction – move it back to 12 months,” he told The Associated Press.

Mr. Geren, who served four terms as a member of Congress from Fort Worth, Texas, also had rather strong words of caution for his former colleagues’ efforts to put limits on deployments and require a one-year break at home.

“That type of micromanagement is just not something that would help us. The Army is doing everything it can. The Army shares the congressional commitment to reduce these deployment times and expand dwell times,” he said.

After ruling out deployments longer than 15 months, Mr. Geren would not say what options are under consideration to maintain current troop levels beyond spring of 2008 if that is what the Army is asked to do.

“We’d have to look at the whole range of options,” he said. “I don’t want to speculate on how we would meet the demand that combatant commanders might make next year but we’re looking at all the options to meet what that demand might be.”

His comments reflect a growing expectation that the military will be able to begin reducing the number of forces in Iraq next spring. There are currently about 162,000 American forces there.

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