December13, 2006: The U.S. Department of Defense keeps close tabs on what the troops think, and one of the big concerns currently is "dwell time." That's the amount of time troops are at their home bases. Ideally, the troops should be home two-thirds of the time, and should spend at least twelve consecutive months home before another deployment overseas (or even another training area). One solution under serious consideration is bonus payments for time spent away from home, in excess of the "2:1" and "12 Consecutive Months" guidelines. These payments would be in the same spirit as combat and hazardous duty pay, which have been popular and effective. But to work, such payments would have to be high enough, and infrequent enough, to improve morale, and not just be a reminder of how often you are being sent overseas. Then again, there are always troops who want extra overseas duty, partly because they like the action, and partly because of the extra pay already offered.