[MNJohnnie]

Oh yeah, I agree we neither want nor need even a 1980s size force. But remember, the original point was about NATO struggling to find a 2500 person force to send to Afghanistan! I would suggest that despite our over whelming technological edge over every possible combination of foes, when we cannot come up with even a single brigade on short notice to deploy we have a serious manpower issue that needs to be addressed!

[kabar]

I agree we need to restructure our forces to meet future threats. I doubt we will get much help from Europe, which is falling further and further behind us in terms of interoperability between our forces. The US is the lone military power that can project its forces worldwide.

NATO is becoming more of a political alliance than a military alliance. It is the US and a bunch of midgets. Canada, a nation of 33 million, spends 1.1% of its GDP on defense and has about 65,000 personnel in its armed forces.

[rodguy911]

Vast understatement here.