College of Political Knowledge
International series
Any military must be ready for the next “great” war…..troops must be trained and in full readiness…..logistics….so on and on…..it must be ready for anything at anytime……The US military is failing in that area…..God knows where the next one will pop up or why…….
There has been a growing concern that the US forces would not be capable of large scale military action….why? They have been spending all their time since about 2003 with counterinsurgency ops….they have lost the edge that it once had as a protector of the world….
From column by David Wood…….
The risk of being unready for major combat operations is partly a matter of choice: Defense Secretary Robert Gates has directed the military to focus its time, resources and energy on winning the counterinsurgency struggle in Afghanistan. That’s the kind of conflict the United States is likely to be entangled in for the foreseeable future, according to current Defense Department plans.
It is also true, senior officials acknowledge, that the armed forces lack the time to train for and equipment to fight a major conflict that might ignite from friction with Iran, say, or China, or deal with a completely unanticipated crisis that requires American forces to quickly intervene — like Korea, 1950.
“There’s a belief that the president of the United States can pick up the red phone and order forcible entry operations” like the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said Army Maj. Gen. Dan Bolger, who commands the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana. “But that takes practice, and we don’t get a lot of practice.”
Readiness is dropping like a lead balloon….maybe the war hawks should take that into consideration before they re-start the “Bomb…Bomb Iran” song that made McCain famous in 2008….I realize that most do not care about the welfare of the troops (except when a needed political prop) and to start an all out war now….would be insanity…..but then NO one ever said those idiots were sane…..
Thanks for this. I don’t like war, but I have great regard for the serving forces everywhere. Readiness, even if un-neccessary, is only prudent.
kolembo, welcome and thanx for the read….always a joy to have new visitors….please do not be a stranger….
Yes, I pretty much agree with both you and kolembo.
There’s another point too that I think is worth highlighting (this is even worse in the UK, but the US has similar problems) – the nature of threat, conflict and indeed even all out war itself is changing rapidly these days. As a result, not only are many troops badly or inappropriately trained, but it’s freguently the case that their equipment is quite unsuitable for the task with which they are faced. By the time something more useful is finally delivered, the conflict has often ended or moved on and the equipment requirements have also changed yet again.
So, you are absolutely right that our forces are NOT ready to face whatever occurs and nor will they be until the question of the disparate versions of conflict faced is addressed much more seriously and realistically than now. For instance, what the hell is the use of a battery of nuclear missiles when only ten percent of the occupants of a country are the enemy and they’re spread out all over?
Our [problem is that our troops get counter-insurgence training and the next big one will not be fought that way…..nukes? why is it necessary? Because others have it? If one gets fired the rest of us will not have to worry about it anymore…just put our heads between our legs and kiss the ass good-bye……
Well, that is the basis of the “nuclear deterrent”, but since you’ve already lost if you have to use nukes, they are no damn use as an attack weapon at all.
I agree…but how do we get the mental midgets to understand this point?
“Readiness is dropping like a lead balloon”
You obviously have not watched Myth Busters. 🙂
Terrant? is that you? Hiya and welcome back! Good vid…I may have to put them on my watch list…..