USS George Washington CVN 73
Posted on 05/28/2009 6:59:42 PM PDT by tobyhill
The United States could fight an old-fashioned war against North Korea if necessary, even while newer forms of conflict against terrorists and extremists continue, the Army's top officer said Thursday.
Asked whether the United States would be prepared to fight if war broke out between South Korea and North Korea, Gen. George Casey replied, "The short answer is yes," then added that "it would probably take us a little bit longer to shift gears" away from the type of counterinsurgency fighting that now occupies the Army.
Casey said his usual rubric for how long it would take the Army to gear up for a new "conventional" war is about 90 days. That doesn't mean it would take 90 days for the U.S. to effectively fight the North's million-man army, he said.
"We'd move forces as rapidly as we could get them prepared," Casey said during an appearance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
>and not a group to be trifled with.
Perhaps They do have a large armed forces the size of which is maintained by ... conscription.
That makes it somewhat suspect, but the IDF uses universal conscription and it is pretty good.
It would be an interesting fight, to be sure.
Yep. There are no good or easy answers.
I would think the 30,000 troops in the Korean DMZ have been expecting and training for a conventional war along the border for 50 odd years.
No we aren’t.
We are fighting this war on a semi-peacetime footing. Most miltary personnel are actually in the US, not deployed, and the vast majority of the National Guard and Reserves are home as well. These are the people who could be mobilized and shipped to Korea in 90 days. Something like 80% of all combat units are in the US right now.
A new Korean war would require a mobilization on a real war footing, all available personnel and units called up for the duration, no rotations - well probably not that much would be required.
During much of the 1950’s Korean war there was only one US Division that was not either in Korea or Europe.
If we really wanted to we could have the 82th and 101th on the way in a few days, plus the afloat equipment from Diego. Depending on airlift the striker brigade could go too. Everyone else would suck hind-tit for a long time. Say maybe 2 weeks for 3 light inventry divions, some Marines and 1 heavy brigade with cost being no object and Fedex, UPS and America airlines handling all they can. That would be a max effort lift with everything throw out the window.
I understand that because of pre-positioned equipment a fully equipped heavy Division could be assembled in Korea in less than a week, plus some light infantry.
More would require shipment of heavy equipment across the Pacific.
Hell yeah they are stretched thin. And fight North Korea? Yeah. But if the Chinese were to take North Korea’s side, that would be a challenge.
How long did it take to gear up for OEF or OIF?
1991 ? about 4 months.
2003 it was about 2-3 months, but there was a lot of pre-positioned equipment in Kuwait.
The units in the Pusan perimeter weren’t National Guard, they were regular Army (badly trained and ill equipped, true), mostly initially from the garrison in Japan.
The NK army is way obsolete (1950’s-1960’s vintage for the most part) and their heavy weapons haven’t gotten much in the way of spares from the Soviet stocks since 1990. Their tanks and artillery would be massacred by the South Koreans if they tried to attack.
SK forces aren’t the semi-policemen they were in 1950.
If North Korea attacked across the DMZ, South Korea would have to do most of the heavy lifting.
The General’s statement is posturing. We are stretched really, really thin.
~~~
IIRC NK can rain arty/rockets/etc. on the south for 3-4 days
(mite last a week)
of heavy fire,,,they/most are in tunnels north of the “Z”,,,
(that said)
I don’t think they can take the ROK Army,,,
Tear up Seoul ?,,,yes,,,
Will lil’kim try this ?,,,
If NK tries to cross the “Z” (2.5mi.) it’s BloodBathTime,,,
Same if we tried to go north,,,
How far will China let him go ?...:0/
And let’s not forget the Japanese Self Defense Forces would certainly want a piece of Lil’ Kim. The JDSF didn’t even exist then. Right now they’re actually a very large and well equiped military on the world stage. Expect the Japs to take it to the Norks by air and sea, hard.
It won’t be June of 1950 all over again.
~~~Navy.mil~~~Today~~~
Ships and Submarines
Deployable Battle Force Ships: 283
Ships Underway (away from homeport): 134 ships (47 % of total)
On deployment: 115 ships (41 % of total)
Attack submarines underway (away from homeport): 32 submarines (59%)
On deployment: 22 submarines (40%)
Ships Underway
Carriers:
USS Nimitz (CVN 68) - Pacific Ocean
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) - 5th Fleet
USS George Washington (CVN 73) - East China Sea
USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) - Pacific Ocean
USS George Bush (CVN 77) - Atlantic Ocean
Amphibious Warfare Ships:
USS Boxer (LHD 4) - 5th Fleet
USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) - Atlantic Ocean
~~~
CVN 73 is now in range to smoke lil kim’s Fat Butt!...;0)
But we don’t want Europe to hate us again do we??????
So with a war on the Korean peninsula and Iran acting up..we end up with WWIII.
Please tell me you don'treally believe this? Every Army, AirForce, Marine, and Naval base is LOADED with troops! Stretched really, really thin? Not at all. I'm tryin really, really hard not to call you ignorant, but I think I just lost that battle.
Maybe the fed should order some new printing presses just in case.
USS George Washington CVN 73
seems to me that one nuclear sub with 36 warheads could finish off North Korean in an hour...why waste American soldier’s lives against this totally corrupt regime and it’s crackpot leader...where’s Team America when you need ‘em.
WWIII ?
Against who ?
These guys are pipsqeaks.
If the Chinese go insane and join in, then you will have a nasty regional war with nuclear risks, but thats still not WWIII.
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