[Former Military Chick]

Still digesting this article.

[Zeroisanumber]

If RAND is to be believed the 80,000 might just be a start.

[Terpfen]

Nevertheless, Lieberman and other Democrats want to increase the Army's ranks by 80,000 troops to ease the burden Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers have faced since the Iraq war started.

As if this is the first war in US history where the National Guard was sent overseas. Please.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

I always believe what President Ronald Reagan said,,, PEACE through strength.
Having a stronger military should NOT be a partisan issue.
It cost more in the long run, to ? cut back in military spending, and then having to rebuild again for the future, than ? , to keep the funding going to keep a well supplied military, and troops at a appropriate level.

[konaice]

There are now about 499,000 active-duty Army troops and nearly 700,000 National Guard and Army reservists. That total is a third less than the force on hand when the first Gulf War was fought in 1991.
The Democrats want to raise the Army's total force to 582,400 over the next four years.

I'd say let them go ahead and pass the legislation. After all, this represents a total repudiation of the Clintoon years where they cut forces like crazy.

When they try to pin it on GWB, saying he exhausted the force, they can simply turn it around and say the Democrats were forced to admit they were wrong wrong wrong in their force reductions.

[truth_seeker]

I voted for Bush and support a very agressive war on terror.

But Bush has failed to do the right thing by stopping "easy" immigration.

And it is very difficult to believe we don't need a bigger military, to confront islam in coming years. Or some other threat (China, No. Korea).

If we are strained to execute what is now on the table, how would we respond to another front?

Those two issues are available to the next Presidential candidates. I expect candidates from both parties will make these big issues.

[q_an_a]

don't close my base - get more troops. House the troops we need, to defen America in my state. hire more sailors, send them at my navy base. build more ships, we need jobs - just don't send any to war. the mantra of the left.

[centurion316]

ping

[Sam Cree]

I'm inclined to also think that more soldiers are a necessity in today's uncertain and dangerous world.

Defending the country is one of the few legitimate functions of the federal government, so spending money on troops would be one of the few things it does that is actually constitutional. That alone would be a refreshing change.