An Army transformed, thanks to a retiring general (Joseph L. Galloway - First Column!)

Knight Ridder ^ | 3 June 2003 | Joseph L. Galloway

[kesg]

Uh, what's the key point or two that he is trying to make here?

[dts32041]

Yup old Gen shink the army of one and the black beret.

who gave the army the stryker and tried to give it the crusader.

Just another Perfumed princed groomed by the klintoons.

Ranks right up there with WC Clark as a military leader.

[BenR2]

The Army is in trouble. Rumsfeld doesn't understand the Army -- even though he is right that the Army needs some serious improvements. (Rumsfeld thinks that cutting divisions, closing bases, and killing weapons systems is the way to "improve" the Army.)

O, LORD, please protect our Army from the bean-counters and technogeeks in Washington; give it a new leader who understands current realities, is willing to roll-back Clintonian tendencies in the service, and to stand up to Rumsfeld and his lieutenants intent on decimating our largest military branch. In the Name of the LORD Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

[SAJ]

''Senior Service''?

Is my memory failing or is it not the case that the USMC was founded well before the Army of the United States?

No War College graduate here, but I'd wager a whole lot of money that the Army (and the other services) could lose 30-35% or more of the chair-polishing, ticket-punching REMFs in the Pentagon and elsewhere, and never miss a lick. These are the JIQs that Rumsfeld ought to be after.

[dts32041]

The US Army was founded Jun 14th 1775, making it the senior service, however the senior component of the uS Army is the Ntional Guard which traces its routes to the 1600's.

[dts32041]

I think maybe we should go back to local Militias, with every able body male and female between the ages of 17-55 serving, with the current level of a professional military.

Details can be worked out.

[Prodigal Son]

Galloway doesn't like Rummy.

[Lancey Howard]

Tony Blair's problems with his own party over Iraq deepened last night when it emerged that Labour Left-wingers plan to lodge a formal demand that George Galloway be reinstated by the party.

I noticed that two threads, very close together, both had titles that mentioned a "Galloway". Is this Galloway night?

[Stultis]

Uh, what's the key point or two that he is trying to make here?

This is my question as well. Hey, it's his first column, but he has left a lot of room for improvement.

[Stultis]

I posted the other one about the other Galloway as well. They came up together in my news.google search:

Left-wingers fight to reinstate Galloway (they'll want to reinstate Saddam next)

[SAJ]

Thanks for the info! I guess I must have considered that we couldn't have an Army of the United States until we had the United States, but that's probably not the right view.

[kms61]

Rumsfeld's done some good things, and he has some interesting ideas. However, every word that comes out of his mouth is not a pearl of wisdom, and I think his vision of the new Armed Forces bears a lot more scrutiny than it's been getting. Hopefully the Congress will exercise its oversight role in the coming months and years and take a hard look at where the Rumsfeld Doctrine will lead us.

Hey, maybe he's right. Then again, maybe he's wrong. And when it comes to the defense of the United States, we can't afford any wrong answers.

[WellsFargo94]

Cutting the Crusader project was a terrific idea of Rumsfield. It's clumsy, expensive, difficult to transport, and very limited in it's abilities. It was a Pork-n-Beans project right down to location of the land for the future factory.

[GUNDEK]

Yes CRUSADER was not perfect, but it was better than any of the gun systems that it was intended to replace. If the next generation gun does not hit the fireing line before we need it the cutting of this project will be seen as a gamble gone wrong. Remember the 5000+ gun tubes pointing at Seol.

[SoCal Pubbie]

"Special operations forces teamed up with precision air strikes with precision munitions will, they say, crack any opposing force."

Is Rumsfeld proposing taking away the Green Berets, Rangers and Delta Force from the Army, and transferring them to the Air Force, or is the writer missing something here?

[WellsFargo94]

Crusader wasn't better than the existing gun systems - as they are easily interjected onto a battlefield. Certainly the HIMARS out manuvers and out shoots, not only the Crusader, but other systems as well.

[HatSteel]

I don't mean to be condescending, but George Washington was the commander of the 1st service instituted by the fledgling Continental Congress. That was the Army.

The Navy didn't follow until the war was actually underway. The USMC came AFTER the Navy was developed.

For what it's worth, the CHAPLAIN CORPS predates the USMC.

[HatSteel]

Rumsfeld and Shinseki are BOTH wrong in my opinion.

Rumsfeld wants to rid the Army of all but spec-ops and follow-on forces. Shinseki wants to emphasize lighter and faster. Each of those strategies have their place in this world. It's another case of "fighting the last war."

These guys have watched Panama, Gulf Wars I&II, Kosovo/Bosnia and they are comparing our capabilities against Panamanians, Iraqis, and Yugoslavs.

We need to understand that these WERE NOT forces that possessed HIGH INTENSITY CONFLICT capabilities. None of these forces had the capacity to oppose our air supremacy.

We make a horrible mistake if we don't prepare to fight against the enemies who have the greatest AIR & PRECISION capabilities. This would include the Europeans, the Russians, and the Chinese.

Without air supremacy and precision munitions domination, then the forces we have on the ground had better be really heavy. In fact, AARs coming out of Iraq say they were disabling (not destroying) some M1s with RPGs.

Imagine that being a wheeled stryker vehicle with lighter armor just as both Rumsfeld and Shinseki envision. I see rubber wheels burning and lighter armor pierced. Someone has their heads up their as$es.

[oh8eleven]

Is my memory failing or is it not the case that the USMC was founded well before the Army of the United States?

USMC - 10 November 1775 - Tun's Tavern (Phil.,PA)
Semper Fi ...