[middie]

The navy aviation community is not over-manned, it's under resourced. Squadrons are short aircraft, air wings and depots are short on spare parts and the deep water role is not applicable to the current crisis. The worst SecDef in 40 years has allowed the 300 ship Navy that was the floor only a few years ago to deteriorate to less than 240. Our sealift capacity is virtually non-existant and we have allowed the merchant fleet to become a mere recollection of the past. We now rely on foreign flagged vessels; a hell of a way to fight a war and have readiness in the Far east.

Our airlift capacity is likewise reduced to reliance on commandeering civilian airliners to transport troops and critical strategic and tactical supplies. Air Force wings are suffering the same fate as naval aviation support units. SecDef has abandoned the idea of there ever being another conflict calling for main force maneuver units to supply the punch that follows-on the stike forces that special ops provide. The guy is a puppet of the high tech, money contributing, industrialists who can sell him big ticket gadgets at the cost of the eyes and tigger fingers of real soldiers, Marines and sailors. He tolerates no dissent or suggestion that anyone of his bizarre changes in conflict doctrine perhaps may be erroneous and have a dangerous potential for the future.

In 1939-40 we were painting signs declaring a truck to be a "tank" at which soldiers "shot" at it with a broomstick and artillery tubes shooting bags of baking flour. Troops were aiming WW I Springfields and shouting "Bang" because we were without ammo suppliers. Ladies and gentlemen, we are very close to the same status today. We limit aviators (Navy) and pilots (AF) to live firing on very few training flights and ground troops to only live fire for qualification.

Meanwhile, we cut taxes for the wealthy, allow our southern border to be an open door for, who knows what sort of enemy, and examine grandmothers in wheel chairs at airports while allowing all manner of avenues open to anyone intend on killing Americans.

This administration and the idiot in the SecDef chair has turned our priorities on their proverbial heads....

[Swiss]

The SecofDef and Administration knows what is going to happen around 2009. Social Security will start goobling up the other revenue in the budget and Bush's Medicare plan will take a big chunk as well. You can't support a world class military and massive social programs. As Europe and Canada shows the military gets the shaft because voters favor the government spending on them instead of the soldiers.

Unless I see massive cuts in our social programs then I see no other outcome than a massive reduction in our military and the ability to wage war. The Chinese will get everything they want if they just wait.