Replies

You are not alone. With a very reduced force, overseas deployments and the usual hassles, thing are not good for the Force right now. I just finished a contract gig on the local air patch - everyone was either coming off of or going on deployment.

Vehicle dispatchers as convoy guards, Space Pigs (sorry, but I just gotta) as force protection (but not for USAF) and on and on.

And the personnel cuts / no promotions are killing any notion of service as career for a lot of folks.

So, ya, the Force is in the crapper right now.

But they still deliver beans and bullets worldwide....

It's been over a decade in the making. The military is operating on 1996 End Troop Strength levels. The downturns began under Poppy/Cheney. By 5 months into Clinton's tern things were a royal mess. The so called adults and help many said was coming never showed up. Part of the reason being the same bunglers from the Nixon/Ford/Carter era's were put back into positions they were incompetent at to begin with. Each party cheered their own POTUS appointments for Sec of Def etc but none were fit for the positions.

Reagan was perhaps the only POTUS in recent history to understand that delegating responsibilities meant selecting knowledgeable and qualified leaders for key positions. Most appointments after Reagan by all POTUS to defense related key positions in the civilian sector have been corporate back scratching deals.

Unfortunately I don't see it changing even if by some miracle the GOP won both houses again because Stooges like Warner enabled Poppy and Clinton's bad ideas on cuts as well as Juniors. The chickens are coming home to roost and the bill for negligence is coming demanding payment in full.