A NUMBER OF DECISIONS by the Pentagon over the last 10 days leave the impression that it is scrambling to bolster the number of combat-ready, deployable forces in order to compensate for what has become an obvious shortage of manpower.

Earlier this week, the Defense Department announced that 3,600 soldiers, comprising one of two mechanized infantry brigades permanently stationed in South Korea, would be rotated to Iraq for a 12-month tour. While these troops represent only 10 percent of American forces on the DMZ, they represent a full 50 percent of combat ready forces on the peninsula.