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Thank you. while i'm on my soapbox, i'd like to spout off about a few things:

1. The beret fiasco was most harmful to the ranger battalions, not the monetary cost or impact to the regular army per se. Why? Our values are tradition, loyalty and bravery. The one army unit that most exemplefies these values is the ranger regiment. To tell them we are taking a uniform item from you, which you value, and give it to a pretty much undeserving group of rear echelon types insults the very unit that is first to fight. It tells them their bravery and sacrifice (which for the ranger regiment is significant) is not as important as political expediency.

2. Agree with you about the sorry nature of the recruiting jingo, 'army of one.' No doubt you and many others have said this madison avenue catch phrase denigrates the army's necessary value of teamwork in order to emphasize individualism. This is going in the wrong direction.

3. Fox news. Where did this USAF general Macinereny come from? He should be labeled minister of propaganda for the air force! Fox news must have hired him because they read the tea leaves and correctly predicted the winner of the DoD power struggle (it really doesn't have to be that way, but Sec. Rumsfeld encourages this, best i can tell). According to Macinerney, air power alone can win the war in Iraq (this was before we went to war). Every time this guy opens his mouth i have visions of privates in the 101st, 82nd, 3rd ID and 1st Marines getting killed because the pentagon realizes belatedly that they can't back up what he says, and has to use ground forces. I have no proof, but I'll bet you a doughnut that general Macinerney is a protogee of JCS chairman General Myers and/or has very close ties to Sec. Rumsfeld.

4. Justa's comments about the derth of tube artillery and armor are exactly right. As an infantry officer, I cannot imagine conducting combat operations without artillery support, as was (is?) done in Afghanistan. This violates soooo many principles of war.

5. Trying to win with special forces alone (on the cheap) is a recipe for disaster. Given the inevitable mission creep that politicians impose upon the armed services, forcing them to do more with less, the time will come when our SF units are asked to do things beyond their capability. Sure, sh__ will hit the fan politically when this happens, but just as in Somalia, many young soldiers will die needlessly to make the point. Now I'm a big fan of green berets; i think they are incredibly brave and competent. Its just that you need an army to occupy enemy terrain; a mission the SF are not designed to fulfill.

My two cents.

regards,