The Defense Department and the Army are finally getting something right in dealing with the unpopular practice of holding troops beyond their enlistment dates.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has approved the plan for eliminating so-called “stop-loss” except in unusual circumstances. Critics have labeled “stop-loss” as a back-door draft because it keeps people who voluntarily enlisted in the military beyond their retirement or re-enlistment dates. The military has contended that “stop-loss” has been necessary to maintain unit cohesion in times of war and to keep soldiers with certain essential skills in those units. But there have been too many duplicitous incidents of extended duty.

Under a plan approved by Gates, the Army Reserve in August will begin mobilizing units that do not include stop-loss soldiers; in September, the Guard will do the same. The active duty Army is to deploy its first unit without stop-loss in January.

The additional plan to pay an extra $500 a month to those forced to stay beyond their enlistment periods is more than fair. There currently are about 13,000 troops in that situation. Such payments will be retroactive to the past Oct. 1 and are due to be distributed soon. When personal and family lives are as disrupted as they can be by stop-loss policies, the Army also suffers.

Officials say there has been a need to retain some personnel later than planned because of the strain of two ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But unless there is a sudden flare-up that demands much larger troop numbers, the new policy should be a resounding success with those in service. With the economy as it is, enlistments could well rise and offset the impact of ending stop-loss.

We have to keep in mind that the modern armed forces are composed of people who volunteered rather than being drafted. During World War II, people went into service, either by enlistment or draft, with the knowledge that their length of service would be the elusive “duration of the war plus six (months).” But modern enlistees do not commit to such a plan, and there should be every effort to honor their commitments. When that cannot be done, extra pay and benefits are in order.

As time goes by, the Defense Department under the leadership of Robert Gates seems to be getting in better shape than it has been for some time. The work on the stop-loss program is a good example of that.