So you're talking about another 100,000+ troops. Where do we get them from? The Army and Marines are barely met their quote for 2004.
We're kind of in a bind here. The army is trying to recruit to staff an occupation army, not an offensive army. The Pentagon is saying that troop levels will be at about 120,000 for the next two years. That means that the troops in the ranks now can expect at least another tour, maybe two in Iraq. They are stretched thin, are going to be stretched thinner, and I can't see that the administration is doing anything to alleviate the situation. And if they start failing to make their recruiting goals then it's only going to get worse.
How about a shift from the wild blue yonder & anchors aweigh branches into the caissons go rolling & halls of montezuma forces?
Let's face facts. We have the largest, most powerful air & naval forces in the world--we can certainly defeat the combined naval forces of the rest of the world and probably do the same to the combined air forces. And so what? although beloved of pork-barreling congressmen adn defense contractors, planes & ships are enablers in warfare, not deciders. Ground forces win wars. Our Army is 5th or 6th & is carrying the brunt of current combat as well as is the force most likely to be committed for the foreseeable future in the war on terror. Time to get away from the service parochialism and the congressional desire to support the equipment-centric Air Force & Navy that generate the most jobs in defense industries, and build up the part of our military that will actually do the fighting.
Not meaning to split hairs here, but division strength approx 15,000, so we we need roughly 60,000; still a big number, and the answer is I don't know.
I think we need them.
I'm from a generation that viewed military service as an almost given, so I'm not sure what would motivate today's youth to join up.
More and or better incentives?
The authorized manning levels don't allow much more than we have active at this point; the first thing would be to allow a force structure authorizing the higher numbers.