"...to repair the damage it's inflicted on an institution that our country desperately needs in a century as dangerous as this one..."
Admits we need the Army in a dangerous time, yet condemns Bush for using it to counter this danger.
You could have a very strong well financed, well equipped and well staffed military if we weren't at war. I wartime, the military must perform, and that puts pressure on its resources.
WTF? Opinion is right. It's not secret that Bubba Clintoon gutted the military, but...IMHO it would seem the military, through combat action, is back on track.
"Military is broken" typical baloney from a defeatist numbskull with no understanding of history or current facts.
This piece was written by Joe Galloway. Who is he? Sounds like a Dem.
Consider the source. And welcome to FR. Don't near any metal objects for the next few hours.
Yeah, we should save up our forces for when we have a real war to fight, right joe?
One where our enemies attack our cities, and civilians?
Oh you mean the one JUST LIKE THIS ONE!
The guy who wrote this article is a complete jackass, and HE is the one that should be tarred and feathered. He has made no real claims, offers no solutions to his non-claims, and then blames haliburton, bush and rumsfeld. What an idiot!
Aside from the problem of low recruitment numbers/intelligence, signing bonuses, I'm not sure what is broken.
Is the Army effective in the field? If so, I don't see how it can be described as broken, but then I do not have an Army background .
Are you some kind of military strategest or what? How many years did you spend in the military and what in your estimation makes it broken?
The opinion is because enlistments are down and training staff are being shifted to combat status that the Army is broken.
I disagree. The combat arm is at a razor sharp level with actual combat experience. The returning combat vets have skills that will beef up the training and support arms. Recruitment is down as the MSM media recently only shows the negative side of our combat engagements. When the embedded reporters had video of how good our troops were in the early days, young Americans were enlisting in numbers. The Army and our other services are doing a tough job very well and we salute them.
I didn't expect this from Galloway...
You and the writer of this article are full of bullshi*!
Military broken? Tell that to our fine men and women in uniform then prepare yourself for the a**kicking you will get.
Puleeeezzzzzzzeeeee!
Galloway does not sound like a team member. Kind of a twisted view of military affairs.
Let's keep the 'broken army', it looks like it works.
Actually, nearly 1 million Armed Forces personnel have rotated through Iraq and are somewhat combat hardened. While every loss is tragic, there are quite a few non-coms that have seen battle first hand. They form the spine of our military and this experience should prove invaluable if we face a tougher adversary.
Eeerr...
I think you forgot the (barfbag alert) tag
Look at enlistment goals? Look at re-enlistment goals?
What it the main difference? The influence of the MSM!
The Army is so fragile we dare not use it, says this writer...
Please. The only thing wrong with this army is that it is undersized. But enlistments are strong, especially when you consider that everyone, everyone, enlisting right now knows they are going into combat.
Re-enlistments are strong, which is significant when you consider that all of them have done at least one tour, sometimes three, and are reenlisting knowing full well they will be sent back into combat.
An army exists to be used, or it is just another welfare program. These guys aren't in the army because they have nowhere else to go, they are in the army because they chose it, because they believe in what they are doing.
The whole force is going through changes, but that happens everytime we have a war. The new enemy and the new circumstances force changes in the system. Artillery isn't much help in urban combat, for example, so artillerymen have been retreaded for door-kicking. If you trained for artillery, that may irritate you. But things have a way of changing, and the next time out it will be your skills that are in demand. Rumsfeld has built a very flexible force, and he has done it in spite of very tight political and budget restraints.
You can complain about the restraints, but Congress has to deal with those. In the meantime, the guys are doing us proud.