[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.

[Salgak]

And the problem is, to re-constitute those three divisions, the 100-odd ships, and the 6-7 Air Wings that x42 killed off, is the work of a decade plus. Not to mention that as the economy improves, recruiting will start to tank: Kids do not like the idea of being Al-Qaeda bomb-fodder in Iraq. . and the Active and Guard/Reserve retention is already starting to drop. . .

To quote Apollo 13 astronaut James Lovell: "Houston, we've got a problem. . ."

[Happy2BMe]

Yes - leave the Balkans NOW!

From the article:

"The CBO report said that creating and training two additional divisions equaling 20,000 new troops would take five years."

And the crap will hit the fan in late 2004 when less than a year between rotations will push troops back into Iraq.

And then there's the FIVE YEAR refresh rate. And even that is optimistic using the 5 to 7 thousand being trained a year in a "down" recruting period.

Let's see, shortfall of 20K in early 2004 (due to falling reenlistments) plus FIVE YEARS = healing (only) beginning in 2009.

Rumsfeld better get a clue and get one fast!

Holy $hit, Batman.