The two legislative leaders signed a resolution supporting the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Program, which helps smooth the friction between employers and employees when workers are deployed.

WASHINGTON  – The Pentagon wants more time before the ban on gays serving openly in the military is reversed.

A senior military official says that while President Barack Obama has been clear that he wants to repeal the ban, there is no specific timeline to do it. The official says that leaves room that the military wants to use to make sure the eventual change goes well.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the Pentagon has not begun formal planning for the repeal. The official says there is a concern the repeal could set off a polarizing debate. And that, the official says, runs the risk of placing an overstretched fighting force in the middle of a divisive policy fight.

Still, the official says the military expects the ban eventually will be repealed.

WASHINGTON- The Pentagon says it has no plans to repeal the don’t ask-don’t tell policy for gay troops.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Tuesday that the military’s top leaders have only had initial discussions with the White House about whether gay troops should be open about their sexuality.

Under current rules, openly gay troops can be discharged from the U.S. military.

Morrell said the White House has not asked for the 1993 policy to be scrapped.

“I do not believe there are any plans under way in this building for some expected, but not articulated, anticipation that don’t ask-don’t tell will be repealed,” Morrell told reporters at the Pentagon.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Major General William E. Ingram, Jr., Adjutant General of the North Carolina National Guard, will be the guest at the first meeting this session of the North Carolina General Assembly Military Veterans Caucus.

Gen. Ingram is scheduled to discuss the pending deployment of the North Carolina National Guard’s 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, based in Clinton. The meeting will be in Room 1228 of the Legislative Building at noon on April 16.

The 30th Brigade is nicknamed the Old Hickory Brigade, after President Andrew Jackson and is the largest unit in the NC National Guard with about 4,000 soldiers based in more than 40 communities across North Carolina. This will be the unit’s second deployment to Iraq. The unit was first deployed to Iraq in February 2004 and returned in early 2005. During that deployment, five of its soldiers were killed and about 100 were wounded.

The Military Veterans Caucus is a bipartisan, bicameral caucus comprised of military veterans, those who represent a district with military interest, and others with a particular interest in military affairs. The caucus steering committee includes Senator Bob Atwater, Senator Harry Brown, Senator Peter Brunstetter, Representative Larry Hall, Representative Ric Killian, and Representative Grier Martin.

First lady Michelle Obama, voyaging away from Washington to begin defining her White House role, visited with soldiers Thursday and spoke to their spouses and children.

The wife of President Barack Obama, beginning some of the advocacy she has said will be a large part of her focus, met with the military community at North Carolina’s sprawling Fort Bragg.

She hugged soldiers and posed for photos in a dining facility and then read “The Cat in the Hat” with expressive commentary in a classroom of young children, ages 3 to 5.

“What are you all dressed up for?” Mrs. Obama asked a young girl with a pink bow in her hair. “You have a special guest or something?”

Mrs. Obama kept more substantive discussions for behind closed doors in private meetings. She was scheduled to finish her afternoon speaking to military support groups nearby in Fayetteville.

Mrs. Obama has cited military families as one of the issues she wants to focus on as first lady.

Sgt. 1st Class Ashlyn Lewis, 31, of Indianapolis, said it was a remarkable experience to see the first lady at Fort Bragg. She said the Obamas have a lot of work ahead of them to shore up deficiencies in the military’s medical system.

“Right now the biggest concern would be taking care of the vets, making sure that the people that are coming home are getting the proper medical care – not just for the Iraqi or Afghanistan vets, but also, there are a lot of Vietnam vets who haven’t been receiving the proper care,” Lewis said. “I believe (the Obamas) are headed in the right direction, but it’s going to be a lot of work.”

Rep. Brad Miller (NC-13) will deliver remarks at the dedication ceremony for the new Camp Butner Barracks Facility which is part of troop training improvements for the North Carolina National Guard (NCNG).

The Congressman secured nearly $1.4 million in funding for the NCNG training site at Camp Butner in the FY09 Military Construction Appropriations Bill. Camp Butner already had a housing shortage and training at the site has quadrupled over the last five years, increasing the need. The new construction will minimize costs for the NCNG by providing economical and convenient housing for troops.

In addition to the barracks facility, a multi-phase construction project at the training site includes a dining facility, maintenance areas and logistical facilities. The improvements will also support the use of Camp Butner as an alternate Command Post in the event of a disaster or terrorist attack.  The Department of the Army has mandated that each State’s Joint Forces Headquarters develop such contingencies.

Who: Rep. Brad Miller

What: Dedication Ceremony for Camp Butner Barracks Facility

When: Monday, March 16, 10 A.M.

Where: Camp Butner, 539 Roberts Chapel Rd., Butner, NC

U.S. Senator Kay R. Hagan (D-N.C.) issued the following statement after attending President Obama’s speech today at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina:

“I am pleased that President Obama chose to come to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina to outline his plan for withdrawal from Iraq. I am proud of all the men and women who selflessly serve our country, and the Marines based at Camp Lejeune, who will be deploying shortly for Afghanistan, deserve our support while they are away from their home and their loved ones protecting our nation and our way of life.

“I have repeatedly said that it is past time that we begin a responsible withdrawal from Iraq in order to devote resources and manpower to Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world to defeat the terrorists who wish us harm. Keeping our troops in Iraq – at the expense of fighting terrorism elsewhere – is not making us any safer or more secure. While we all wish that our troops could come home as soon as possible, the most important concern is that our withdrawal from Iraq be safe, responsible, and with the least risk to our troops on the ground. President Obama consulted with his National Security Team and the generals on the ground, and if Generals Petraeus, Odierno and General Austin, a top commander in Iraq based out of Fort Bragg, are comfortable with this, then I believe we should proceed in this way.”

Of the eight counties where Barack Obama made the largest gains last year relative to John Kerry in 2004, two of them are the state’s strongest military locales, Cumberland and Onslow Counties, PPP.

WASHINGTON  – A substantial number of the roughly 100,000 U.S. combat troops to be pulled out of Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010, will remain in the war zone through at least the end of this year to ensure national elections there go smoothly, senior Obama administration officials say.

That pacing suggests that although Obama’s promised withdrawal will start soon, it will be backloaded, with larger numbers of troops returning later in the 18-month time frame.

Obama was to announce his strategy Friday at the sprawling Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, where thousands of Marines are soon heading to another war front, Afghanistan.

The administration now considers Aug. 31, 2010, the end date for Iraq war operations.

That timetable is slower than Obama had promised voters, but still hastens the U.S. exit.

Even with the drawdown, a sizable U.S. force of 35,000 to 50,000 U.S. troops will stay in Iraq under a new mission of training, civilian protection and counterterrorism.

The potential size of that remaining force doesn’t please leaders of Obama’s own Democratic Party, who had envisioned a fuller withdrawal. Obama personally briefed House and Senate members of both parties about his intentions behind closed doors Thursday.

Republican Sen. John McCain, who lost the presidential election to Obama, offered his support for the plan Friday.

“I think the plan is significantly different than the plan Obama had during the campaign,” said McCain, referring to Obama’s campaign pledge to pull combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months
of taking office if possible.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers in the briefing that ground commanders in Iraq believe the plan poses only a moderate risk to security, McCain said.

War critics are ready to hear Obama’s public words. They see his much-anticipated announcement as the beginning of the end of a long, costly conflict.

The last of the U.S. troops are to be out of Iraq no later than Dec. 31, 2011. That’s the deadline set under an agreement the two countries sealed during George W. Bush’s presidency. Obama has no plans to extend that date or pursue any permanent troop presence in Iraq.

Administration officials spoke about Obama’s Iraq decision under condition of anonymity to discuss details of the strategy ahead of the announcement.

The Iraq war helped fuel Obama’s presidential bid. Most Americans think the war was a mistake. More than 4,250 U.S. military members have died in the war.

From the Jan. 20 start of his presidency to his deadline for ending the combat mission, Obama has settled on a 19-month withdrawal. He had promised the faster pace of 16 months during his campaign but also said he would confer with military commanders on a responsible exit.

Officials said Thursday that the timetable Obama ultimately selected was the recommendation of all the key principals – including Gates and Mullen. The timeline was settled on as the one that would best manage security risks without jeopardizing the gains of recent months.

With 142,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, Obama plans to withdraw most of them; the total comes to roughly 92,000 to 107,000, based on administration projections.

Officials said Obama would not set a more specific schedule, such as how many troops will exit per month because he wants to give his commanders in Iraq flexibility. “They’ll either speed it up or slow it down, depending on what they need,” said one official.

Yet the officials made clear Obama wants to keep a strong security presence in Iraq through a series of elections in 2009, capped by national elections tentatively set for December. That important, final election date could slip into 2010, which is perhaps why Obama’s timetable for withdrawing combat troops has slipped by a few months, too.

One official said Gen. Ray Odierno, the top American commander in Baghdad, wants a “substantial force on the ground in Iraq to ensure that the elections come off.”

Another official said Odierno wanted flexibility around the elections. “The president found that very compelling,” the official said.

Obama has maintained that getting out of Iraq is in the security interest of the United States. He planned to emphasize in his comments on Friday, however, that the U.S. has no plans to withdraw from its interests in the region and will intensify its diplomatic efforts.

The senior administration officials sought to describe Obama’s decision-making process as one that was not driven by his political promise to end the war. They said he consulted extensively with his military team while interagency government teams reviewed the options.

Obama made the final decision on Thursday, officials said.

The U.S. forces that will remain in Iraq starting Sept. 1, 2010, will have three missions: training and advising Iraqi security forces; providing protection and support for U.S. and other civilians working on missions in the country; and targeted counterterrorism.

McCain, R-Ariz., said his understanding is that the troops left behind would still go on combat patrols alongside Iraqis as part of the advisory role.

“They’ll still be in harm’s way,” he said. “There’s no doubt about it.”

Obama had said all along he would keep a residual force in Iraq.

“When they talk about 50,000, that’s a little higher number than I had anticipated,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said before the briefing at the White House. Among others there was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has also expressed concern about the troop levels.

Violence is down significantly in Baghdad and most of Iraq, although many areas remain unstable. U.S. military deaths in Iraq plunged by two-thirds in 2008 from the previous year, a reflection of the improving security after a troop buildup in 2007.