DoD ACCOMPLISHMENTS SINCE 2001 ...(with Donald H. Rumsfeld)

DoD ^ | Dec 19, 2006 | Donald H. Rumsfeld

[IrishMike]

Truly good reading, not to be seen on any MSM Drive By outlet.

Good bye Don, thanks for everything. To echo the Vice President you were 'the best ever'.

[Ron2]

He had a hell of a job.....trying to rebuild our military after Bill & Hillary Clinton ruined it. Still not there yet, except for the technical stuff......oh.....which by the way Bill and Al Gore shared with China.

[IrishMike]

He had a hell of a job.....trying to rebuild our military after Bill & Hillary Clinton ruined it. Still not there yet, except for the technical stuff......oh.....which by the way Bill and Al Gore shared with China.
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All true, it was the peace 'dividend'.

Like Regan had to rebuild the military after peanut brain.

[rjp2005]

Only complaint here was heavy emphasis on developing the point-and-click wonder weapons instead of beefing up the basic boots and armor infantry numbers, strength, etc.

However, knowing that the Democrats would soon be in charge of defense spending, it probably was a good decision to research some far-ahead technologies more knowing the Democrats would never allow it and we'd fall behind in important research.

[avg_freeper]

In the last six years, the Department has made great strides in modernizing its forces to address the threats of the 21st century.

I.  WAR ON TERROR

• Overall: A multinational coalition has liberated 50 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq, with formation of representative governments and security forces.
• Liberated 31 million Afghans from Taliban control and destroyed Al-Qaeda sanctuary – conquering elements that successfully fought off the Soviet Union for over nine years – and stood up a Loya Jurga governing council eight months after operations began.
• Liberated 26.7 million Iraqis from a brutal dictatorship and turned over sovereignty of the country to an Iraqi government in 16 months.
• Recruited, Organized, Trained, and Equipped Iraqi and Afghan Security Forces:
  • 129,000 for Iraqi Ministry of Defense
  • 165,100 for Iraqi Ministry of Interior
  • 33,000 for Afghan National Army
  • 37,000 for Afghan National Police
• Conducted safe and secure elections in Afghanistan and Iraq:
  • Elections in Iraq
    • January 30, 2005 election—55 percent turnout
    • October 15, 2005 constitutional ratification—63 percent turnout
    • December 15, 2005 election—78 percent turnout
    • March 16, 2006—permanent Iraqi Government seated
  • Elections in Afghanistan
    • October 9, 2005 election—roughly 80 percent of voters turnout
    • December 7, 2005—Afghan President inaugurated
• Senior leadership of America’s enemies have been captured, killed, or made to run:
  • Khalid Sheik Mohammad, Al-Qaeda’s Director of Operations—captured March 1, 2003
  • Saddam Hussein’s sons—killed July 22, 2003
  • Saddam Hussein—captured December 13, 2003
  • Ali Hassan Mahmud al-Tikriti, AKA Chemical Ali—captured August 21, 2003
  • Al Zarqawi, leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq—killed June 7, 2006
  • Forty-five of fifty-five of Saddam’s top regime—the deck of cards—have been killed or captured

• Conducted hundreds of intelligence and tactical operations—many with partner nations—throughout the world against terrorist organizations directly or loosely affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

• NATO has expanded its reach in Afghanistan—the first time the Alliance has acted outside of its traditional boundaries.

• Suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have revealed information that has helped thwart attacks against our troops, the American people and our allies.

II.  SHAPING THE JOINT FORCE FOR ASYMETRIC WARFARE

• Army

• Most significant reorganization in a generation, from a division-based structure to 70 modular brigade combat teams.
• $21 billion invested in the National Guard for equipment and modernization so that, for the first time, the Guard will be fully manned, equipped, and funded.
• Shift of thousands of troops from Institutional Army “tail” to Operational Army “tooth.”
• Development of Future Combat System.
• Ended Cold War legacy programs, such as the Crusader artillery and Comanche helicopter programs.

• Navy

• New Fleet Response Plan doubles the number of Carrier Strike Groups that can be deployed at short notice.
• “Sea swaps” of crews allow longer deployment of ships.
• Started the development of the new Littoral Combat Ship designed to satisfy the urgent requirement for shallow draft vessels to operate in coastal waters.
• Conversion of Trident ballistic missile submarines to vessels that can carry Special Forces and launch UAVs.

• Marines

• Created expeditionary strike groups with U.S. Marine Corps with many capabilities optimized for GWOT operations.
• Created Marine Corps Special Operations Command.

• Air Force

• Created Air Expeditionary Groups for better efficiency and flexibility.
• Increased Unmanned Aerial Vehicles from 130 to over 3,000.
• More than 100 satellites and nearly 100 aircraft are controlled and flown daily by 26,000 Airmen to provide valuable intelligence, warning, and precision navigation to forces around the globe.
• Provide the joint / coalition force with global networking and space-based communications, navigation, weather, and surveillance information.

• Irregular Warfare

• 107 percent budget increase in Special Forces.
• New technologies and tactics to counter IED threat.
• Foreign-language skills and area expertise increased throughout the force.
• Increased focus on stability operations.
• New counterinsurgency manual and doctrine issued.

• Missile Defense—Limited operating capability implemented:

• Emplaced 11 ground-based interceptors in Alaska and 2 in California to address long-range threats (ICBMs with range of approximately 10,000 miles).
• The first operational patrol of Aegis BMD long-range surveillance and tracking equipped destroyers was in the Sea of Japan in September 2004; today, 10 Aegis BMD Destroyers are Long-Range Surveillance and Track capable; one Aegis BMD Destroyer is Engagement capable and two Aegis BMD Cruisers are Engagement capable.
• Since 2001, 22 hit-to-kill intercept tests have destroyed their targets.
• On September 1, 2006, the last test of the ground-based interceptors exceeded its objectives by destroying a mock ballistic missile in space.
• The BMDS transitioned from developmental to operational status.

• Nuclear Triad: New structure of offensive weapons, defensive weapons bound together by an enhanced command and control, and intelligence systems.

• Humanitarian Operations & Disaster Relief

• Hurricane Katrina/Rita

• More than 2 million pounds of food, 34,000 MREs, and almost 180,000 bottles of water were distributed.
• Military forces peaked at nearly 72,000--50,000 National Guardsmen and 22,000 active-duty personnel—a total deployment for Katrina more than twice the size of the military response to Hurricane Andrew.
• DoD military personnel evacuated more than 80,000 Gulf Coast residents and rescued another 15,000.
• Military forces provided significant medical assistance, including 10,000 medical evacuations by ground and air and the delivery of medical treatment to more than 5,000 sick and injured people.

• Asian Tsunami

• More than 24 million pounds of supplies delivered since the disaster.
• USNS Mercy cared for more than 60,000 patients and performed more than 1,000 surgeries.

• Pakistan Earthquake: Delivered more than 7,000 tons of medical supplies, food, shelter material, blankets, and rescue equipment. Delivered more than 4.5 million kilograms of relief supplies to the disaster area and transported more than 15,000 people, including over 4,300 people needing medical attention.

• Evacuated nearly 15,000 American citizens from Lebanon.

III.  MANAGEMENT & ORGANIZATION

• Transformed Unified Command Plan

• Northern Command for homeland defense and domestic emergencies.
• Joint Forces Command to focus on Transformation.
• Strategic Command replaces Space Command—missions include ballistic missile defense and WMD.
• Finalizing plan for new combatant command for Africa.
• Developing mechanisms for Combatant Commanders to have dual-responsibilities in key countries, e.g. Mexico.

• Reorganized Department Leadership

• Created an Undersecretary for Intelligence.
• Created an Assistant Secretary for Homeland Defense.
• Created an Assistant Secretary for Network Information Integration/Chief Information Officer.

• Budget:Consolidated the program/budget process into a 2-year cycle.

• National Security Personnel System (NSPS): About 10,000 civilian employees incorporated into a system that allows for greater flexibility in hiring, promotion, and assignment.

• Military to Civilian Conversion: About 20,000 positions previously held by uniformed military personnel are now performed by civilians, freeing up troops for military tasks and assignments.

• Business Processes:Created the Business Transformation Agency to improve DoD’s business processes, systems, and investment governance

• Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC): Implemented largest BRAC round in history, saving taxpayers $5.5 million per year.

• Transportation: Established TRANSCOM as owner of the distribution process from factory to foxhole, as opposed to from port to port.

• Defense Logistics Agency: Established as sole entity for supply chain.

• Senior Level Review Group: Established to improve civilian-military interaction.

• Headquarters Staff: Decreased by 10 percent to reduce unnecessary overhead and duplication

IV.  ALLIANCES AND PARTNERSHIPS

• Global Posture

• Cold War arrangements overseas being updated to reflect new threats and circumstances.
• Thousands of troops and families being moved from Germany, Japan, and South Korea.

• NATO

• Stood up new NATO Response Force.
• Created Allied Transformation Command.
• Deployment of ISAF to Afghanistan and training mission to Iraq.
• Headquarters and overhead reduced.

• Proliferation Security Initiative: Implemented a 60-nation partnership to interdict dangerous weapons and materials.

• New Security Partnerships: Developed in the Pacific, Central and South Asia, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, and South America.

• Georgian Train and Equip Program.
• Restructure Defense Attaché program to align with new Security Cooperation Guidance.

• Global Peacekeeping Operations Initiative

V.  PEOPLE

• Medical

• Military Amputee Training Center.
• State-of-the-art medical care for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Smallpox Vaccination Program.

• Quality of Life: Longer tours at home bases to provide less disruption to family life.

• Housing: Privatized several housing programs and built thousands of military housing units.

• Active Component / Reserve Component: “Rebalanced” thousands of personnel spaces both within and between the components to reduce stress on the forces.

• Targeted Pay Raises: Aimed to attract most talented skilled people in high demand.

[wastedyears]

How much would the Democrats reduce the military by? Twenty perfect, twenty-five percent? Half?

[wastedyears]

Twenty percent, not perfect.

[Ron2]

One thing for sure.....Democrats could never send our military to war in this day and age. Without military approval of any plans, they won't go. That's why they didn't trust Clinton. After Somalia, thousands of military officers resigned their commissions.

[Killborn]

I know he's the best SecDef. But SecDef used to be SecWar. So including SecWars, is Rummy still the greatest? Or is there a great SecWar?

[Nascar Dad]

bump

[black_diamond]

To quote my wife on the day his resignation was announced, "he made us feel safe."

[SueRae]

Thanks for formatting that list. WHat an incredible list of accomplishments. Sorry to see him go, for many reasons.

[Killborn]

Thank you. Hopefully I'll get an answer.

[IrishMike]

Thanks, I was stuck with the 300 word limit.

[IrishMike]

I was quoting Dick Cheney either yesterday or the day before.

[M1Tanker]

Many of the officers and enlisted resigned because Clinton left the soldiers in Somalia hanging in the wind to face the Islamic radicals and thugs there. I joined the Army in 1993... Just in time to see Clinton employ M1 Main Battle Tanks, under the command of GEN Clark, against 200 members of a religious sect who didn't pay enough taxes. Bush has never used the military against our own civilians, Democrats have (Leftists, put down the acid and take notes). In addition, leftist staffers and courtiers were allowed into the War Room during the Battle of Mogadishu. These leftists cheered as US Soldiers were killed and openly showed their hatred to the military members in the room. My uncle was there and he took an early out soon after in disgust against Clinton and his ilk.

A heavy brigade or two, the Ranger/SOCOM infantry already on the ground, and a carrier strike group with a USMC landing force would have crushed the "warlords" pretty handily with few casualties. Instead we lost large numbers of under-supported Rangers/SOCOM soldiers and several helicopters. We turned Somalia over to a civil war and now it is almost totally ruled by an Islamic caliphate (Called the "Islamic Court"). Somalia is now a base for terrorism, piracy, and the "utopia" of Sharia law. All because the left was too cowardly and disorganized to stand up against the terrorists and too willing to become dhimmi. Clinton should have been impeached then.

The leftist policy that failed in Somalia is the same one the left now advocates for Iraq and Afghanistan. They never learn... Appeasement did not work in 1938 and it does not work in the 21st Century.

In war, casualties happen (I say that as I am 2 weeks out from deployment). The more wishy washy the military is employed, the more the politicians tie its hands, the more casualties WE have. Our job is to make sure it is the enemy that has the casualties ("no one ever won a war by dieing for his country"). When the US Military is hamstrung, like we were in Somalia, we get casualties. Then we are told to run away. And what happens? Does "Peace" reign when the "evil Americans" leave?? ABSOLUTLY NOT!!!! But the MSM and left left refuse to see that. They refuse to see the bodies of the dead civilians killed by our enemies. Just as when the left refused to see the carnage of Rwanda and Darfur. Instead they blame us, and/or the existence of Israel, for the carnage.

In the real world (not the "Kumbaya Land" the leftist inhabit), hitting the enemy hard and incurring few casualties, brutal as it sounds, SAVES LIVES in the long run. The lives it saves are the civilians of the affected area and our own people, including the "Kumbaya Left" who would not last a month without the protection of the US Military.

The bottom line is either we kill the masters and the ones willing to kill us and their own people to establish their "Islamic Empire" (Dar al Islam) now with relatively few casualties, or we suffer tens of millions of casualties, like we did in WWII (50 Million dead military and civilian), after we fail to stop the true killers early on.

Note to leftist trolls: the "true killers" are the Islamofascists. These are the ones who will kill you and crush all of your freedoms (for real, not like your BDS induced fantasy). I feel I must insert this for the trolls as they seem incapable of the necessary logical leaps.

People would die. These people would be the enemy and their supporters. We either kill them, or we suffer attack after attack like the Israelis do. Is that what leftists want? US bus stops and school buses blowing up?!?! US restaurants being bombed??? If we follow the leftist's last "glorious" retreat/redeployment (from Somalia), the terrorists will pack their overnight bags and come here to kill us. Is that what the left wants??

From some of their protest signs featured on zombietime.com, I would have to say 'yes'. This means either the leftists are truly traitors (aiding the enemy) or too stupid to realize the terrorists they kiss up to are the real danger and are the ones who will kill them!! Either way, it is infuriating to shout about the clear and present danger the Islamic death cult poses to the "liberals" in the West. Only to have these same "enlightened" leftists deny it and call me a NAZI as they spout off national socialist "kill the Jews" and "death to America" B.S. without seeing the incredible irony.

[GoldCountryRedneck]

Wow!

Thank you both for bringing this to FR attention. While we're all aware of Rumsfelds' general accomplishments, the details are breathtaking.

I've long considered him as the Executives' Executive. We've lost a good one...

I've forwarded your formattted list, avg_, to friends and military (retired) family.

Thanks again

~GCR~

[oust the louse]

That is some great insight. Thanks! It's a shame the leftist media never took The Impeached one to task on Somalia the way they should have.

[M1Tanker]

One of my earlier awakenings that the MSM was not concerned with truth, just attacking conservatives and supporting (lieing for) leftists.

My first indication was when I was a teenager during Iran-Contra. Al Gore asked LTC North why North had built a fence and North told him because of Bin Laden. Al Gore had no clue who Bin laden was. That whole kangaroo trial was my first experience with the corruption of the MSM and the betrayals of the left.

[Red6]

Not the typical MSM BS one hears, but spot on.

Rumsfeld was a superb SECDEF.