[cuban leaf]

—Our forces are much more professional, better trained, and more committed than we were.—

And lets be blunt. Technology has matured to the point that we just don’t need as many men as we once did, relative to the number of men who would volunteer.

[kabar]

And since we have such dependence on advanced technology, we need to invest more time and money in training. We can't afford a revolving door military.

We have not been overwhelmed with volunteers. We are meeting our quotas, but that could be affected if the economy recovers.

The reductions in our forces are due in large part to budget cuts, which are driving force levels rather than techonolgy and mission. We are entering the familiar phase of declining powers when "guns versus butter" dominates funding levels.