[SLB]

This is long but factual. Not the normal cry baby approach. Just a simple straight forward article on what the military is facing in the comng years if changes do not happen soon.

[SLB]

FYI

[libtoken]

The Gov.Exec article is a repeat (with one deleted paragraph) of the National Journal article "Stress Fractures" of 6 September 2003. Did one article copy from another, or did both of these use a previous article as the source?

[libtoken]

Actually, the Gov.Exec article does quote the National Journal and the writer (James Kitfield).

[jospehm20]

I remember thinking at the time that the loss of the three extra divisions that Clinton axed in the second drawdown of 1993-1994 would come back to bite us. We at least need to get out of the Balkans ASAP. We have a division worth of folks in Hungary, Bosnia and Kosovo.

[D. Brian Carter]

There is a bit of the "crybaby" element in this article, actually, although it's not as blatant and whining as many of the other articles I've seen.

My gut reaction to this is: a. yes, it is obvious our level of personnel in the armed forces, especially the Army, is too low, thanks to many years of downsizing and reduction of budgets; b. something needs to be done about the strength and size of our forces; c. the job of a PROFESSIONAL soldier is to be a SOLDIER, which includes being away from home for long stretches in uncomfortable, hostile conditions; d. until there is a solution for the problems of long and back-to-back deployments, the PROFESSIONAL SOLDIER is going to have to suck it up and DO HIS JOB.

[xzins]

Awesome and accurate article.

America's soldiers have FAMILIES. When they look in their eyes they realize what most people say their priorities are: (1) God, (2) Family, (3) Job.

At some point, many of them will choose their family OVER their job.

This article is an endorsement for a draft during any major conflict. It will cut down on the wait between volunteer campaigns and when voluteers actually sign up and in what numbers.

[taxcontrol]

I have frequently commented to friends that the Army is 1 light division and 2 motorized divisions short. Marines are at least 1 Brigade short.

Army Reserves are at least 8 support Bn short. I don't know about the Marine Reserves.

[jjm2111]

bump

[Happy2BMe]

Where is that peace dividend?

[america-rules]

This is not new !

The Air Force has had this problem for 10 years.

During stinkmisters 8 years a typical Air Force term of enlistment would go like this: Spend 3 months in Saudi, come home for three months then deploy to Europe for 6 months. Go home for a week or two and go to the middle east again or Africa etc.. We were crying for help but were told to suck it up. The Generals were lying to congress telling them all was good but self inflicted death rates, rapes, child abuse, wife beatings etc. were out of control. People were working 20 hour days and pilots were popping official pills to keep them going that would get a civilian arrested.

OK, stinkmister was the commander in chief then so it was OK then but now it's a problem !

[68skylark]

This is a good post. But I DO see some excessive pessimism here (the so-called cry-baby approach).

The article overlooks several ways we could get more troops quickly to help in a tight spot:

- Call up one or more National Guard divisions.

- Use Marines in peacekeeping roles.

- Withdraw from some peacekeeping roles where the U. S. isn't essential (Bosnia, Kosovo, Siani desert).

- Count on other services (Air Force, Navy, Marines) and other countries (South Korea, Japan) to free up some Army troops from the defense of S. Korea.

I also wonder if we have too many Army troops in training or "overhead" positions -- I suspect 5% to 10% of these slots might be cut without much harm, and that frees up a lot of soldiers.

Yeah, our troops are stretched thin. But just because they are stretched, it doesn't mean we have to immediately take the (expensive) step of expanding the Army without looking at other creative options.