Even before the surge was announced, Colin Powell, the former secretary of state and an ex-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said that the active army was “about broken”.Remember when this lying POS was actually considered as a possible Republican Presidential contender? What a joke. He never could have been a contender!
To suggest the army was about broken, shows he thinks we're all stupd...OR HE IS STUPID.
If he had suggested that many members were uncomfortable with the rotation/schedule because it caused difficulties with their home life would have been an ACCURATE statement.
There is one part of this overall problem that has not been addressed: We are not replinishing the hardware at the same rate we're using it up...especially considering the lead-time for some of it. I'm mostly concerned about aircraft. Jeeps and trucks are easy to come by...and we're not using artillery and tanks much at all.
We ARE wearing out fighters, tankers, cargo, helo and all other air assets. It takes a long time to get 'em built so we should have that underway. The problem is cost...we can't build 2,000 F-22s. We CAN build 300 F-22's, 1,500 F35's and another 1,500 F-16s. That's right, F-16's with all the latest/greatest avionics and engines. They're cheap...and they're VERY EFFECTIVE once you've established air dominance with the other assets.
Hell, we could probably use another 100 B-52s...or modern equivalent on a 747 airframe.