Posted on 07/23/2013 9:20:54 AM PDT by SkyPilot
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned on Monday that U.S. troops are close to the breaking point, after many deployments and Congress risks worsening the situation if it doesnt help the Pentagon with its budget.
Our people are strong and resilient after 12 years of war, but they are under stress and so are the institutions that support them, Hagel told the Veterans of Foreign Wars at the groups annual convention in Louisville, Ky.
Last week at Fort Braggs Soldier and Family Assistance Center, I met a first sergeant who told me that in Afghanistan, he froze up and became overwhelmed by anxiety. He couldnt command. He had lost his ability to command, Hagel said. I asked him how many deployments he had. He told me he was on his fifth consecutive combat tour when this happened. When you push human beings this hard, they break. Some people have been pushed beyond the breaking point.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Bush’s Fault, no doubt.
so lets listen to asskisser dempsey tsalk about deploying troops to syria.
Desert Storm started it, and it’s been going on ever since. Our country’s leaders have forgotten the purpose behind having a big stick. Carry a big stick so you WON’T have to use it. Democrat administrations in particular seem to think the military is just another tool in the toolbox, so why not use it, eh? Well, they’re using it up, wearing it out, and NOT paying to maintain it.
If I had to guess, I'd say it's money. After that, more money. Finally, even more money still. But none of it is for more troops or better barracks & fighter planes, it'll be for Muslim outreach.
Just a guess, I have no special knowledge.
that would be TALK not STALK, though that might be appropriate too. too bad we can’t furlough welfare and food stamps.
LOL!
How happy would you be if you thought you might have to go into combat with a woman in front of you and a queer behind you.
And you can’t even ask Jesus to help you because that isn’t allowed any more.
That’s really depressing. I used to work for the Navy Exchange in the 80s, and my dad was a career civilian employee of the Dept. of the Navy (after his WW2 service). I can well imagine the people this is affecting.
but I thought Obama ended all the unnecessary wars. How can this be?
Every other day and almost every other hour, we hear about a new mis statement, crime, scandal, malfaesance, leak, corruption, mismanagement... so now I am convinced that there are a bunch of truly deficient (and that is putting it nicely) idiots in DC ... and Hagel is certainly one of them. Starting with and not limited TO Benghazi, which has not been addressed to anyone's satisfaction, and all the other spying and corruption reports... I hate them all! AND I hate the MSM which focuses on only the most superficial and temorary issues.
Maybe because many in Afghanistan no longer have hot breakfasts, midnight meals, decent lunches, decent latrines & showers, etc., while Zero takes $100 million vacations on the taxpayer dime?
Plus large taxpayer money helping Muslims inside the DOD, too.
Sorry, but it is NOT a 20% annual pay cut. It’s a 20% pay cut over the summer, which works out to maybe a 4% annual pay cut.
When this “war” on terror started I told my wife that we will never win it because we won’t do what it will take to win it.
Expecting a soldier to fight for years, especially under the ROE they must fight, will take it’s toll.
Do you really think that 5 consecutive combat deployments would be easier to take under Bush or any other president? Hagel is right. The troops have been stretched past the safety point. And morons like McCain are willing to toss them into the Syrian mess.
Imagine the howl of racism if a 20% to foodstamps were inacted.
what a farce
we have enough on out plate, militarily
and Obama has added troops and logistics operations, in Africa, in multiple locations, and not just “special operations”, and most recently in Jordan and Turkey in defense of the Sunni-Islamist putsch against Assad
I always hear screaming about little Korea, when a bigger question is when will prosperous western Europe take care of its own defenses, after sixty-plus years on the dole to us. Britain and France always have troops for foreign military adventures abroad that serve their own “national interest” yet when will the NATO countries in Europe do all the heavy lifting in Europe?
as for Afghanistan, that’s a whole nuther can of worms
maybe BECAUSE of sequestration, the Pentagon will be able to force and administration to start making policy based on priorities as opposed to priorities set merely to fulfill policy wish lists.
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