[sauropod]

The author is correct about this. We are about to hollow out our forces.

Again.

[wally_bert]

Bookmarked. Great article.

[advertising guy]

bttt

[Stonewall Jackson]

An excellent article for your reading pleasure.

[wku man]

"The combat troops within a division (infantry, artillery, armor)..."

No such thing as an artillery division. But the article is spot on. Not nearly enough people realize that we have very few actual combat arms troops in the Army and Marine Corps.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[mom aka the evil dictator]

My brother (US Army, formerly AF Reserve, Army Guard and Coast Guard)is in Iraq stationed at the same base my son (US Army)was stationed at on his last deployment. My son has done two deployments to Iraq. He is now in the Army Reserves. My sister was an officer in US Air Force, my husband was Air Force, my father is retired Air Force and my father-in-law was Navy. This family believes in the US of A. Don’t gut the military and leave them in harm’s way so that the worthless pieces of welfare garbage and the illegal aliens can get a raise. Cut them all off and give the money to the men and women who serve this country. Or better yet, bring our people HOME!

[Chainmail]

Semper Fi Ping

[SamKeck]

If one took all the “trigger pullers” in the nation’s ten Army and two Marine divisions, there would be barely enough to fill half a college football stadium.

How odd; the last I heard was that the Marine Corps had three divisions, not two, and that it had three air wings in support of those divisions, for a total active duty enrollment of about 185,000 personnel (both regular and BAMs); of those I'd hazard that at least two thirds of them (123,000) are assigned to the Fleet Marine Force, and all could rightly be classified as "trigger pullers."

[KantianBurke]

“Former Army chief of staff Gen. Eric Shinseki was greatly praised for being one of the very few people to tell Congress that stabilizing Iraq after Saddam was deposed would take 250,000 soldiers.”

Sorry Rummy worshipers. Your idol was, as per usual, wrong.

[onedoug]

Nor neither armored cavalry.

[Tainan]

When it comes to budget battles, the Army and Marines are almost always on the losing end. In peacetime, infantry platoon training in the heat, rain, mud, and ice cannot compare with the allure and majesty of a carrier battle group on the high seas. When a congressman visits an aircraft carrier, he is getting an up-close and personal manifestation of America’s awesome power. Just one carrier group (we have nearly a dozen) possesses enough combat power to bring all the navies of World War II to their knees. On the other hand, a congressman visiting an infantry unit in the middle of training will find nothing but dirty, tired soldiers or marines, living in conditions far removed from what one would normally consider civilized.

11Bang Bang is where it all comes together.

[ExSoldier]

Oh boy, I remember those ultra lean days in the early 1980s when I was on active duty and we were so short of lousy BLANK ammo to go out and train, we'd run through the woods shouting BANG! instead of being able to at least simulate realism with blank ammo. When it came to firing live ammo for semi annual weapons qualifications, it was worse, much worse. We were lucky to be able to scrape together enough ammo to shoot familiarization. IOW "THIS is what this weapon sounds like and recoils like when you pull the trigger!" Which means you'd be lucky to fire a full magazine on anything and less than half a belt on anything belt fed. Belts typically come in units of 100rds.