Meanwhile, USA Today reports the Army has accelerated its policy of involuntary extensions of duty to bolster its troop levels, despite Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s order last year to limit it. Since last May, the number of soldiers forced to remain in the Army through stop-loss has increased by 43 percent. The reliance on stop-loss has soared as the military has sent more troops to Iraq and extended tours to fifteen months to support the so-called surge.