Thats ‘cause REAL Americans DON’T CUT N RUN! Haven’t those Idiots figured that out YET?? THey DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP either. They OWN THE NIGHT. Any questions? No? Good, sit down spanky.
Interesting to see this. This concept is one I have been trying to research recently. Is Iraq really wearing down our military. While being at war now for 5 years in Iraq and before that in Afghanistan certainly has a toll, I want to learn to what extent this has occurred. According to anti-war liberals, the Army is broken, but they are not usually the best source for this information.
They are the ones with hard experience in a tactically-challenging war, and they have less patience for the pontifications of the Vietnam generation.
Scales was a Clinton lizard who resigned from active duty the moment President Bush was elected - almost literally.
“Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell warned, “The active Army is about broken.”
My father was in the Army and worked with Powell many times over the years. I could tell you what he thought of him but that would be rude.
The American fight forces are some of the toughest, most professional soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen in the world. The can take on missions around the world and be separated from their families for long periods of time. They can “make do” and still get the mission done.
But there is a price that has to be paid for long deployments. It wears down the men and equipment and both need to be rested and refitted before being returned to combat.
So I have long supported an increase in the number of combat brigades in the active Army by an additional 6 to 8 brigades. For the Marines, an additional 3 to 4 combat brigades. And this would only help to ease the rotation schedule. This would provide some downtime between deployments so the troops can spend time with their families, decompress and repair/refit their equipment back to combat status. It would also allow time for replacement troops to learn from the “old salts” and train up for the next deployment.
And if we want to take on Iran, we had better start gearing up for a MUCH higher number of combat brigades.
Imagine that. ;o)
It’s encouraging to see something written about this that doesn’t come from the far left and has actual facts presented.
I would ping Fat Jack Murtha to this piece but it’s doubtful the bumbling old fool can use a computer and even if he can he’s probably on a fact finding trip to Okinawa studying for a redeployment of our military.
Despite everyones wishful thinking we can not continue on this course. You can't keep deploying troops nor equipment without allowing for substantial downtime. If you do you shorten their use life.
Case in point happened in Gulf War One. Cheney and the Pentagon along with congress cut corners on maintenance and we lost a carrier that should just now be nearing it's end of service life. It was lost for several reasons. It was over deployed, it was not allowed proper maintenance downtime not once but several times in a row. It was denied a life extension overhaul. Simply put it went Boom at the pier. All this occurred mostly under Republicans except the last deployment a third in three years and the explosion.
You can not win wars by downsizing. Building a new Iraq is not a Constitutional function of our military or government. It is an abuse of such and should not be allowed by anyones party. Either destroy the nation or bring our troops home. If people want a rebuilt Iraq fine. Send Jimmy Carter there to do it on his dime not mine. As such congress has no authority to nation build nor use troops or taxpayer funds to do so.
The military is to provide for our common defenses. It should not be an extension or enforcing arm of the United Nations nor should congress base use of for ce on such. It should never be used for the purposes being used in Iraq.
For our own national good we need to abandon the Wilson Doctrines which is rampant in the GOP and return to the sound military readiness policies of Reagan instead. When not if but WHEN we get hit by a major strike ala Pearl Harbor at this point we will likely not recover defense wise because we have not only shuttered but leveled our defense production capabilities and outsourced them overseas in a lot of cases. To think that such will never happen again is arrogance. To not plan for it is foolishness. To rely on foreign nations for production of goods for national defense is national suicide. We are on the very edge of our capabilities and resources. They are working because they are the finest we have. Even the finest machine though is subject to wear and wise usage must be the rule.
Make enlistments 6 years maximum obligation especially first enlistment. That is plenty of time. Restore the original GI BIll. Limit overseas deployments to 18 months per four years served. Build a military and man it to make such a reality except in a period of war actually declared by congress not including Authorizations for use of force which should not be permitted excepted as specified in the Constitution meaning Letter of Marque and / or reprisals. Bring some needed Constitutional discipline back to congress. Our troops deserve at least this much from us.