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A top Army official says a new policy is under consideration that could result in Reserve and National Guard troops being called to active duty multiple times for as long as two years each time.

Under the current policy, Guard and Reserve members may not serve on active duty for more than 24 total months.

So a reservist who was called to duty for six months for one operation, and then nine months for another could not then be deployed to a standard 12-month tour of duty in Iraq.

But under the proposed changes, the limit would be set at 24 consecutive months, which means a National Guard or Reserve member could be called up for multiple 12- or 24-month tours of duty.

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The Army official, who spoke to a small group of reporters on condition of anonymity, said the Army needs flexibility because it has been stretched thin by Iraq and Afghanistan.

The matter has not been fully settled inside the Pentagon.

The Army probably will ask Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in the
next several months to change the policy.

The official also told reporters the Army will probably ask Congress to authorize a permanent increase the statutory size of the Army by 30,000 soldiers to 512,000.

That increase would cost about $3 billion a year, the Army estimates.

The Army now has about 660-thousand troops on active duty, of
whom about 160-thousand are members of the Guard and Reserve.

The revelation of the proposed change comes just days after a memo from the Army Reserve’s most senior officer, Lt. Gen. James Helmly, surfaced that says the force is so hampered that it is "rapidly degenerating into a 'broken' force."

In the internal memo first obtained by the Baltimore Sun Helmly writes the Reserve has reached the point of being unable to fulfill its missions or regenerate its forces for future assignments.

The Army Reserve has about 200,000 soldiers, nearly 52,000 of whom are on active duty in the war on terrorism, mainly in
Iraq.

About 50 have died there.

Two officials who saw the original memo confirmed its contents
to The Associated Press.

In read in part, according to AP reports: "The purpose of this memorandum is to inform you of the Army Reserve's inability under current policies, procedures and practices ... to meet mission requirements associated with Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom."

"The Army Reserve is additionally in grave danger of being unable to meet other operational requirements," including those in classified contingency plans for other potential wars or national emergencies, "and is rapidly degenerating into a 'broken' force.”

Helmly's memo is the type that rarely becomes public, although
some private defense analysts and members of Congress have openly