President Bush today announced that Army combat tours are being reduced from 15 months to a year as repeat deployments have caused wear and tear on soldiers and their families.

The change will be effective for those soldiers deploying after Aug. 1.

That means the Hawaii Stryker brigade, which has been in Iraq for about four months now, will remain on its 15-month scheduled tour.

An additional 7,000 Schofield Barracks soldiers are expected to deploy to Iraq later this year and early next year, and the new policy of 12 months on deployment and 12 months at home will apply to them.

"The stress on our force is real, but the Joint Chiefs have assured me that ... our all-volunteer force is strong and resilient enough to fight and win this war on terror," Bush said.