About as much military experience as their fearless leader...
The Army has been kept on short rations of troops and equipment for years by a Pentagon more intent on stockpiling futuristic weapons than fighting today’s wars. Now it is pushing up against the limits of hard arithmetic. Senior generals are warning that the Bush administration may have to break its word and again use National Guard units to plug the gap, but no one in Washington is paying serious attention. That was clear last week when Congress recklessly decided to funnel extra money to the Air Force’s irrelevant F-22 stealth fighter.
From the military experts at the NYT. How many years' collective military experience do the NYT editors have, anyway? Seriously?
if you read the article there is not a single quote in the entire thing...just make it up as it goes along...
I wonder if they'll do an editorial on the Army achieving recruiting, retention goals...
http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.php?story_id_key=9607
You are quite right. The editorial staff of the NYT has the military knowledge, experience and judgment equal to the leader of a gay girl scout troop. Moreover, they are using this to advance their agenda to bring about the defeat of the United States in the War on Terror. This will certainly be result if U.S. Policy follows the NYT lead.
However, the facts behind the propaganda are troubling. During the Vietnam War, we skipped an entire generation of modernization (except for the Air Force, they never skip anything) at great risk to the country in order to fight the war at the level we thought necessary. Was the risk worth it? It think so, but others disagree.
In this case, we have chosen the other course: continue Modernization as planned and take risk with our committment to the current fight. This, in my view, is far riskier. If we are perceived by the world to be beaten in Iraq, we will reap a bloody harvest for years to come - and our transformational systems may never be brought to bear in the fight.
The Army has said for years that it needs 2 more divisions (or the equivilent combat brigades, combat battalions - you take your pick). We are quickly running out of time to decide, recruit, equip, train, and deploy these divisions. Wellington said that Waterloo was a very near run thing. What would he have said if he has come up just a bit short? Answer, nothing - Napolean would have hung him before he had a chance to speak.
A large part of the blame also belongs to Congress. How many times have our representatives told the military to buy equipment they didn't want or slip in earmarks for non-miltary projects that only benefited someone in the home district.
Without the futuristic projects, where else will the generals work once they retire?
And you don't think the Slimes has military experts on its staff...who could have figured this stuff out without the help of the Slimes?
About as much military experience as their fearless leader...