Maj. Gen. James McConville takes command of the 101st Airborne Division in August. (courtesy Fort Campbell)

The new commanding general at Fort Campbell will have his troops home for longer than any period since 9/11. He plans to make the most of the time.

A majority of the 101st Airborne has returned from Afghanistan, and Maj. Gen. James McConville says he expects many soldiers to be sleeping in their own beds for close to two years. The Department of Defense has been shortening deployments while trying to keep soldiers home twice as long as they’re gone.

McConville says the new rotations should hit a sweet spot between deployments and downtime, not giving soldiers so much rest they lose their edge.

“The idea that you know you’re going within a three year period is sufficient time to keep what we call ‘battle focus.’ You’re not going to become complacent. What it allows you to do is it gives you a lot more time to train.”

The more than 20,000 soldiers of the 101st Airborne do not have orders to head to Afghanistan again. But McConville says he “assumes” it’s just a matter of time before the division gets the call to go.

Bracing for Cuts

McConville is bracing for cuts on post as the Department of Defense is being asked to help reduce the federal deficit.

Just as a starting point, he counted up how many programs there are on post and came up with more than 500. They range from summer activities for kids to employment programs for Army spouses.

“You get in a position where you know what programs you absolutely have to have. What are the must-haves? What are the should-haves? And what are the nice-to-haves? And hopefully you don’t have to get too high into those should and must. Maybe the nice-to-have programs we might have to give up.”

McConville has not released a categorized list, but he says the must haves include necessities like ammunition and fuel.

McConville took over the 101st Airborne Division in August. That makes him the commander of Fort Campbell, a post that – including families and retirees – supports nearly 250,000 people in the region.