All service members are expected to be world-wide deployable but that has not been the case in recent years. The number of individuals who are not healthy enough to serve overseas has swelled in recent years, and DoD will soon begin letting go a good number of the estimated 286,000 individuals that fall into this category. The new DoD policy issued by Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Robert Wilkie on February 14, could affect up to 14 percent of the currently serving military force.
As Military Times reports there will be exceptions to the new policy, such as pregnancy. Medical boards will review wounded personnel, and the services will retain the ability to grant exceptions to wounded warriors.