Posted on 01/25/2006 1:23:45 PM PST by ARealMothersSonForever
WASHINGTON - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday disputed reports suggesting that the U.S. military is stretched thin and close to a snapping point from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, asserting "the force is not broken."
"This armed force is enormously capable," Rumsfeld told reporters at a Pentagon briefing. "In addition, it's battle hardened. It's not a peacetime force that has been in barracks or garrisons."
Rumsfeld spoke a day after The Associated Press reported that an unreleased study conducted for the Pentagon said the Army is being overextended, thanks to the two wars, and may not be able to retain and recruit enough troops to defeat the insurgency in Iraq.
Congressional Democrats released a report Wednesday that also concluded the U.S. military is under severe stress.
Reports suggesting that the U.S. military is close to the breaking point "is just not consistent with the facts," he said.
In an apparent shot at the Democratic Clinton administration, Rumsfeld said a number of components of the armed forces were underfunded during the 1990s, "and there were hollow pieces to it. Today, that's just not the case."
He said there were over 1.4 million active U.S. troops, and some 2 million — counting National Guard and Reserve units — of which only 138,000 people were in Iraq.
"Do we still need more rebalancing? You bet," Rumsfeld said.
The secretary suggested he was not familiar with reports suggesting an overburdened military. But, he said, "It's clear that those comments do not reflect the current situation. They are either out of date or just misdirected."
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of Defense William Perry, both members of the Clinton administration, were credited among the authors of the study that congressional Democrats released.
It said that U.S. ground forces are under "enormous strain," adding, "This strain, if not soon relieved, will have highly corrosive and potentially long-term effects on the force."
In the earlier report obtained by The Associated Press, Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer who wrote it under Pentagon contract, concluded that the Army cannot sustain the pace of troop deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency.
As evidence, he pointed to the Army's 2005 recruiting slump — missing its recruiting goal for the first time since 1999 — and its decision to offer much bigger enlistment bonuses and other incentives.
Rumsfeld said that "retention is up" and that recruitment levels must meet higher goals, ones raised because of the operations on the ground.
At the same time, Rumsfeld added: "There is no question if a country is in a conflict and we are in the global war on terror, it requires our forces to do something other than what they do in peacetime."
"The force is not broken," Rumsfeld said, suggesting such an implication was "almost backward."
"The world saw the United States military go halfway around the world in a matter of weeks, throw the Al Qaida and Taliban out of Afghanistan, in a landlocked country thousands and thousands of miles away. They saw what the United States military did in Iraq.
"And the message from that is not that this armed force is broken, but that this armed force is enormously capable," Rumsfeld said.
The Army fell more than 6,600 recruits short of its goal of enlisting 80,000 troops last year, the first time it missed its annual target since 1999 and the largest shortfall in 26 years.
But the Army exceeded its monthly recruiting goal in December for the seventh consecutive month, though some of those targets were lowered from last year's. It will have to increase its recruiting pace, however, to meet its target of 80,000 that it has set for the budget year ending next Sept. 30.
A new law will let the Army attract older recruits, raising the top age from 35 to 42. In addition, financial bonuses for enlistments and re-enlistments have increased.
Also, according to Rumsfeld, an increased emphasis and spending on Special Operations forces and intelligence operations results from lessons learned in Iraq.
The Pentagon's next budget and a broadbased review of U.S. defense strategy should be seen as "the next step in a long line of bold changes" for the military, rather than a list of program adjustments, he said. Both the budget for fiscal 2007 and an update of the Pentagon's long-range plans are to be released early next month.
Special operations and intelligence are among the programs expected to see increased funding in the new spending plan. Rumsfeld said that improvements in the programs reflect setbacks and successes since the first days of combat in Iraq.
"The Don" Rumsfeld does not take kindly to stabs aganst the US Armed Forces, I perceive.
quite???
"In addition, it's battle hardened. It's not a peacetime force that has been in barracks or garrisons."
Something our enemies, and potential enemies are no doubt thinking about.
It's still quite pretty.
As far as the Female ratio within the US Marines goes, Yes it is (quite "pretty").
Really no need to read any futher than this. If there were two less qualified people to judge military capabilities I would vote for Bevis and Butthead and even then it would be a close call.
The other 3,262,000 must be stuck in the Afghanistan quagmire. /dripping sarc
Something tells me that we shall be tested really soon upon what was learned in those lessons.
Maybe I should say relative to bullets flying!
Read my tagline; he said it today to one of those reporters.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of Defense William Perry, both members of the Clinton administration, were credited among the authors of the study that congressional Democrats released.
I heard that. This report also ommitted the statement "that is just plain wrong".
Of Course not. It's the IRAQI Forces that, in the end, shall be the finishing blow to the Terrorists.
Once they are fully equipped, capable, battle-tested, experienced and integrated-by-units, they'll be a lean & mean fighting machine in defense of their country.
"Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of Defense William Perry, both members of the Clinton administration, were credited among the authors of the study that congressional Democrats released."
This sentence says it all. Who would believe these people? This is just something the DemocRATS are trying to bring up to again embarrass the Administration. These people are nasty and they never let up on the evil they do.
That's good. They may have to deploy to Iran soon.
Apparently the congressional Democrats hired these two bird brains to do a "hit" piece on the Bush military. I think we can assume that it's a biased piece of work.
Since we are fighting in Iraq in order to minimize the amount of fighting we'll eventually have to do on our own soil, I would feel better with about 500,000 troops on the ground conducting some big ops killing 5,000-10,000 al qaeda a day. That probably means the military draft which I'm all for.
"He said there were over 1.4 million active U.S. troops, and some 2 million — counting National Guard and Reserve units — of which only 138,000 people were in Iraq."
Okay. How many of those are trigger pullers?
Combat is a young man's job, always has been. You can't take some 45 year old reservist, hand him a rifle and a pack, and expect him to keep up with the 20 year olds.
And I don't care what kind of sci-fi-come-true gadgets you have; at some point you need to take and hold ground, with trigger pullers.
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