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The Army is broken
San Diego Union Tribune ^ | 08-15-2015 | Robert H. Scales

Posted on 08/18/2015 10:25:56 AM PDT by NRx

...Sadly, the Army that stayed cohesive in Iraq and Afghanistan even after losing 5,000 dead is now being broken again by an ungrateful, ahistorical and strategically tone-deaf leadership in Washington.

The Obama administration just announced a 40,000 reduction in the Army’s ranks. But the numbers don’t begin to tell the tale. Soldiers stay in the Army because they love to go into the field and train; Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently said that the Army will not have enough money for most soldiers to train above the squad level this year. Soldiers need to fight with new weapons; in the past four years, the Army has canceled 20 major programs, postponed 125 and restructured 124. The Army will not replace its Reagan-era tanks, infantry carriers, artillery and aircraft for at least a generation. Soldiers stay in the ranks because they serve in a unit ready for combat; fewer than a third of the Army’s combat brigades are combat ready. And this initial 40,000 soldier reduction is just a start. Most estimates from Congress anticipate that without lifting the budget sequestration that is driving this across-the-board decline, another 40,000 troops will be gone in about two years.

But it’s soldiers who tell the story. After 13 years of war, young leaders are voting with their feet again. As sergeants and young officers depart, the institution is breaking for a third time in my lifetime. The personal tragedies that attended the collapse of a soldier’s spirit in past wars are with us again. Suicide, family abuse, alcohol and drug abuse are becoming increasingly more common.

(Excerpt) Read more at sandiegouniontribune.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government
KEYWORDS: army; dod
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1 posted on 08/18/2015 10:25:56 AM PDT by NRx
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To: NRx
The collapse of our military is merely another anti Western victory. The left is every where sweeping to an inevitable victory.
2 posted on 08/18/2015 10:28:54 AM PDT by AEMILIUS PAULUS
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To: NRx

One of the main goals of the left. Destroying our military.


3 posted on 08/18/2015 10:29:37 AM PDT by ColdOne (I miss my poochie... Tasha 2000~3/14/11 HillaryForPrison2016)
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To: NRx

Get the illegals off welfare and billions will be available for OUR military.


4 posted on 08/18/2015 10:30:25 AM PDT by Regulator
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To: NRx

Obama will only be happy when the Dutch army level is reached - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dutch-soldiers-are-shouting-bang-bang-because-theyve-run-out-of-bullets-10442332.html


5 posted on 08/18/2015 10:33:20 AM PDT by RightGeek (FUBO and the donkey you rode in on)
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To: Regulator

This country will not survive those that elected this POS twice. (with all due respect to excrement)


6 posted on 08/18/2015 10:33:26 AM PDT by bicyclerepair (Ft. Lauderdale FL (zombie land). TERM LIMITS ... TERM LIMITS)
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To: NRx
The Army may not have enough money for sufficient training to maintain proficiency, but be comforted by the fact that there is always enough money in the kitty to provide transsexual sex change operations for Court Martial ed and convicted traitors like “Chelsey” Manning.

Decorated war vets are disciplined if they address “Chelsey” by “her” original name, “Bradley Manning”

Yup, our Army is broken, and funding levels are not the only reason it's broken

7 posted on 08/18/2015 10:33:49 AM PDT by rdcbn (Amen)
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To: NRx

And yet the Defense budget is north of $600 billion, and growing. Where does all this money go???


8 posted on 08/18/2015 10:35:05 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: PGR88

the dollars have taken the same sort of circuitous route that vast amounts of money travel in all 3rd....world hellholes do.


9 posted on 08/18/2015 10:39:53 AM PDT by MeshugeMikey ("Never, Never, Never, Give Up," Winston Churchill ><>)
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To: NRx

I’m thoroughly disappointed in how little pushback there has been from the military.

They removed how many officers, and they just let it happen?


10 posted on 08/18/2015 10:44:34 AM PDT by Shadow44
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To: NRx

As long as the armed forces are compelled to accept and celebrate open faggotry I’ll view them as a “broken” entity.


11 posted on 08/18/2015 10:51:54 AM PDT by greene66
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To: NRx

That could all change if a certain Mr. Trump gets ELECTED.


12 posted on 08/18/2015 10:53:57 AM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: Shadow44
They removed how many officers, and they just let it happen?

I have no proof of this, but I suspect what is left of military leadership after cuts are liberal supporters of Obama. The conservatives that remain fear that they will lose their jobs or will not advance if they speakout. Meanwhile the RINOs in congress do nothing.

13 posted on 08/18/2015 10:55:06 AM PDT by ConservativeInPA (Do Not Vote for List: See my profile)
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To: NRx

The Army has been broken for quite some time, and it’s not because of money.

One of the funniest things I saw were all the Officers who brown-nosed their way up the ranks then turn around and say, “Where did all these brown-nosers come from?”.

“Maybe you shoulda made ‘em smarter instead of faster.” - Gary Busey from the movie SOLDIER.


14 posted on 08/18/2015 10:56:52 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: NRx

But yet we still have plenty of money to give all sorts of free stuff to illegals and allow transvestites into the military and allow the military health program to pay for gender changing operations...


15 posted on 08/18/2015 10:57:04 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: NRx

The mililtary is being turned into a para-military social program.


16 posted on 08/18/2015 10:58:11 AM PDT by GeronL (Cruz is for real, 100%)
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To: Biggirl

All I could think as well. It’s frustrating to have the vehicle of deliverance at hand and twiddle our thumbs watching the degradation of America continue.


17 posted on 08/18/2015 10:58:12 AM PDT by GoneSalt (+NooB+"I STAND WITH DONALD TRUMP-HE'S TERRIFIC-HE'S BRASH-HE SPEAKS THE TRUTH"~TED CRUZ~)
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To: PGR88

Much of the defense budget goes to non-defense items I bet.

Environmental programs and all that.


18 posted on 08/18/2015 10:59:43 AM PDT by GeronL (Cruz is for real, 100%)
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To: NRx

Obama would consider the army fixed.


19 posted on 08/18/2015 11:04:34 AM PDT by The_Media_never_lie ( Megyn made the debate about her petty gripe. She failed miserably. She choked, choked like a dog!)
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To: blueunicorn6

That accounts for nearly all in the Pentagon. Way too many in any company , department, or business who just nose brown all the way and then think they are better than others.

Was a time when you did your work and you were noticed and rewarded, now people are rewarded on how they suck up or who they sleep with.


20 posted on 08/18/2015 11:08:38 AM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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