[huldah1776]

from snipped..."I visited Baghdad in 2007 as a guest of Gen. David Petraeus. Before the trip I had written a column forecasting another broken Army, but it was clear from what Petraeus showed me that the Army was holding on and fighting well in the dangerous streets of Baghdad. Such a small and overcommitted force should have broken after so many serial deployments to that hateful place. But Petraeus said that his Army was different. It held together because junior leaders were still dedicated to the fight. To this day, I don’t know how they did it."

The Guys in Iraq and Afghanistan were all volunteer. The best of the best. Petraeus' COIN strategy failed to cover their backs and now, now their training is all but non-existent. Everyone was screaming about training on US soil. Half of my son's unit's training was cut while in Oki. The point of the spear is being blunted. Makes me so dang mad.

[PGR88]

The US is still spending $600+ billion per year on the military. Where the hell is this money going?

[driftdiver]

Blunted???

The point of the spear has a rainbow puffball on it.

[uncbob]

The Constitution states congress has the power to raise and maintain the military
Where does Obama get the power to cut 40,000

[ctdonath2]

I recall a reference to there being just 30,000 “trigger pullers” in the US military. Can anyone insightfully elaborate on that, and how the latest cuts are impacting it? Weapons systems & infrastructure are of course vital, but it all comes to “boots on the ground” ... and I doubt how many trigger-ready “boots” we’ve got to put on the ground.

[Vermont Lt]

It’s breaking for the third time in our lives. That’s probably true. But it broke before WWI, II, and Korea. And we came back and won.

In order to maintain a full combat ready army is expensive, and not really a good plan.

The Army would not be significantly involved with ISIS. One airborne division could take care of them. The Army would not be involved with China. That will be a Navy and AF war.

The only place that “might” need large amounts of troops is Europe. And Putin would light the place up if we got involved in any meaningful way.

So, aside from, “that’s the way it’s been’, where do we need this huge, combat ready army?

[vpintheak]

The Army has turned into a social experiment. We joked about it in the past, but that's what it has become.
Join the Army to protect the Country? Nope, go become an underpaid policeman. Want to be a strong male? Nope, have women and homosexuals in combat units and don't you dare say anything about it.
It's pathetic, it really is. I cannot recommend it to anyone these days. Yes, I am an Army veteran.

[boycott]

The Obama administration just announced a 40,000 reduction in the Army’s ranks.

---

Yet we’re bringing million of refugees and illegals to join our welfare roles. If we stop that, we can easily afford the 40,000 in our military.

But that’s not the plan of the muzlim in chief. He wants to fundamentally destroy the United States.

[Feckless]

I joined the Army in 1972. The writer's assertion that it was "broken" is an understatement. It got even worse under Jimmy Carter.

I got thrown out of the office during one of my wife's reenlistment ceremonies at Ft Hood in the 90's when I pointed out the Catch 22 of "Defending the Constitution" and "Obeying the orders of the President (Clinton)"

I can only imagine hoe demoralized today's troops are.

[Pan_Yan]

Western civilization announced to the world that we were giving up military supremacy for domestic spending when Britain no longer had an operational aircraft carrier.

[detective]

Another miserable failure by the Obama administration.

[TexasRepublic]

What else would you expect with a Communist In Chief?

[ought-six]

We are so screwed. China and Russia are going to team up and are going to start kicking somebody’s butt, and there is not a damn thing we’ll be able to do about it.

[onedoug]

What should one expect from an enemy islamist CIC and an islamist facilitating Congress?

[charlie72]

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