Top general: Army 'will break' without more troops

CNN ^ | Dec 14, 2006 | AP

[KantianBurke]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- As President Bush weighs new strategies for Iraq, the Army's top general warned Thursday that his force "will break" without thousands more active duty troops and greater use of the reserves.

Noting the strain put on the force by operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the global war on terrorism, Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker said he wants to grow his half-million-member Army beyond the 30,000 troops already added in recent years. Though he didn't give an exact number, he said it would take significant time, commitment by the nation, noting some 6,000 to 7,000 soldiers could be added per year.

Officials also need greater authority to tap the National Guard and Reserve, long ago set up as a strategic reserve but now needed as an integral part of the nation's deployed forces, Schoomaker told a commission studying possible changes in those two forces. "Over the last five years, the sustained strategic demand ... is placing a strain on the Army's all-volunteer force," Schoomaker told the commission in a Capitol Hill hearing.

"At this pace ... we will break the active component" unless more reserves can be called up to help, Schoomaker said in prepared remarks.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Schoomaker said Gen. George Casey, the top commander in Iraq, is looking at several military options for the war, including shifting many troops from combat missions to training Iraqi units.

The Army in recent days has been looking at how many additional troops could be sent to Iraq, if the president decides a surge in forces would be helpful. But, officials say, only about 10,000 to 15,000 troops could be sent and an end to the war would have to be in sight because it would drain the pool of available soldiers for combat.

[Steel Wolf]

It will likely take way more than 10 divisions. 10 is a good start, though.

The increased size alone won't grant the military the national will to make them capable for what you're suggesting. We've decided on a modern system of warfighting that ties one hand behind the military's back. Now, making that hand twice as big will be nice, and it will help. We'll still be inefficient, but as we waste twice as much as before, we'll get twice accomplished.

It won't, however, change the fundamental military weakness that America's enemies cherish; our lack of will to get the job done. If 500 thousand Soldiers can't put an ounce of spine in a nation's back, 5 million couldn't, and that's what we need more than anything.

[hinckley buzzard]

One thing Bill Krystol has been saying for several years now, has been that Bush should have taken the occasion after 9/11 to increase military manpower significantly. You can't police a 9/11 world with 9/10 troop strength. Looks like he was right.

[RinaseaofDs]

"10 extra divisions + MEFs? What the hell are you planning to do, invade Russia?"

Excellent idea.

[91B]

Rummy and company were convinced that air power was going to make grunts obsolescent. While I think that the change to Brigade Combat Teams "reshuffles" the deck so that we have more combat power it just isn't enough. We need at least 100,000 more troops in the active Army, but getting them will be tough. This is to say nothing of how the reserve forces have been mismanaged, not that we shouldn't have been used, but that we haven't gotten the most bang for our buck from due to not using up the available mobilization time that reservists are limited to without full mobilization (reservists are limited to 2 years out of every five, but as most units have done 15 or 16 month rotations, they can't be mobilized again until the "window" closes).

We also need to preserve the force we have in the Guard, but there are plans afoot to cut several brigades in the Guard-which I think would be a huge mistake. Of course this will be expensive-and the defense budget is way too low-but I don't expect the Dems to pony up.

[HitmanLV]

Over There, Over There
Send the word, send the word,
Over There
That the Yanks are coming,
The Yanks are coming,
The drums rum tumming everywhere
So prepare,
Say a Prayer
Send the word,
Send the word to beware
We'll be over, we're coming over.
And we won't be back till it's over over there!

[jmc1969]

That was Rumsfield biggest failure.

His cheap and easy war theory simply does not work. Technology is no substitute for ground pounders to secure a country.

[Tailback]

Pull all of the US Military units out of Germany except for a couple Air Force units, Landstuhl medical center, and pre-positioning units.

Pull Most troops out of South Korea, leave the Air Force and pre-positioning units. South Korea has a large standing army, with help from our Air Force and Navy North Korea isn't going to do anything.

Pull every single US military member out of the Balkans.

Voila! No more military shortage.

[jwalsh07]

LOL, I don't know you very well but I'd be happy to reup with you on a buddy deal for the over 50 crowd. I still have skills, I can still shoot and I haven't had a peep out of my circumflex since they stented it ten years ago.

[KantianBurke]

Excellent point. During his Sept 20th 2001 speech to a joint session of Congress, Bush had that opportunity. He could have called for an sizable increase in the size of our armed forces accompanied by a call for the youth of this country to serve. He did not. He gave us political pap such as libertyunites and platitudes about "hugging your children."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html

[91B]

I volunteer Sir! is our regimental motto :-).

I'm surprised that they wouldn't take you with a medical degree-I saw several stories about a 70-something year old doc that was activated off the retired list. He did his 90 day reserve doctor rotation then went home. We have a serious shortage of docs in the guard and reserves.

[donmeaker]

We still have 72,000 soldiers in Germany, compared to 99,000 soldiers in Iraq.

I know where I would hunt.

[jwalsh07]

If he said that he was right. Some of us have been saying the same thing for some time now. The criticism that we tried to fight the WOT on the cheap is valid criticism.

[91B]

All you say here is true, but wouldn't we save some if they were all light fighters? Also-believe it or not-we have a lot of tracks mothballed. An instructor I had at Camp Shelby said that there were more M1s stored there than at any other post in the world (including Hood). They have them stored in rows of warehouses and they don't even have the resources to maintain them. Those 18 divisions of 1991 were fully equipped and those tracks (outdated though they may be) are in storage somewhere-at least some of them.

[Steel Wolf]

You have an excellent point about our global committments. They've become like any other government program. Once we go in, we never come out. Now we're spread thin, and facing a tough decision. Do we cut back on current committments, or increase the size of the military? Reorgs aside (and military reorgs are badly needed), we've got troops scattered all over the world, many in missions that have outlived their necessity.

It's time to admit we're trying to accomplish too much mission without a large enough force. One or the other is going to have to give: more troops, or less mission.

[jwalsh07]

I can't say I don't mind writing checks to the IRS but even though I certainly don't mind writing checks to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund each year since the war started, it bothers me that these men and women and/or their survivors have to depend on volunteers.

[DragonMarine]

Call Me...
I spent 10 years training for a war that didn't happen until I was tagged for separation in 1991 under the RIF.
The first gulf war was just getting underway and I stuck my paw in the air and said "send me".... but I was assigned to a SAR unit and deemed critical to the current mission. All of my training and desire for combat was seemingly subsumed as Operation Desert Storm was relegated to the back pages of effective warfare. The effort by US forces was halted at the Iraq border, and the result was, well...

I will fight now when it comes to our doorstep, cuz the Marines won't put me in Uniform again (I'm 43).

But when the time comes, this Marine will not only make his presence known to the enemy, I will train all those willing souls around me. "Cry Havoc, and unleash the Hounds of War"...

They will know the defender of faith and freedom is their enemy, and their destruction is imminent.

Period

rant/off

[AlaskaErik]

The problem isn't the number of troops, it's the grunt/REMF ratio that's all out of whack. In Iraq, the grunt/REMF ratio is as high as 1:70. That's 70 freakin' REMFs for every grunt that goes outside the wire. That's just totally unacceptable. A more appropriate ratio is 1:14. Here at Bagram AB, Afghanistan you can't help but trip over all the army guys on base every day. I don't even go to lunch because the lines are so long even with a 2.5 hour window. I don't know what they all do, but they certainly don't seem to go outside the wire. The army needs to streamline its operations so a greater proportion of the force is actual infantry.

[Rokke]

"His cheap and easy war theory simply does not work. Technology is no substitute for ground pounders to secure a country."

Not only did it work. It worked magnificently. The military victory our forces achieved in Iraq is unprecedented in the history of warfare with regard to invading a hostile nation guarded by an entrenched defense with numerically superior forces. The insurgency we are now fighting is an entirely different battle. And if history proves anything, it proves you cannot defeat an insurgency by trying to overwhelm it with superior numbers of conventional forces.

[sgtyork]

Let me make you feel a little better. Soldiers in war zones do not pay taxes. When they reenlist for bonuses, they are not taxed.

The re-enlistment bonuses range from as little as $1,000 to as much as $150,000, depending on the type of job and length of re-enlistment http://www.mudvillegazette.com/archives/003186.html

I have a cousin in Tal Afar and she expects to have saved more than $ 25 grand in the year she's there. And she's a very junior enlisted with unremarkable "psy-op" skills.

I am glad you recognize their sacrifice, but we are doing our part of keeping up their morale. They certainly earn it. Rather than pity their low wages, let us gape in admiration for their dedication and professionalism. Let us appropriately condemn those who call them losers (John Kerry and Charlie Rangel) and back them in their mission.

[Rokke]

"The army needs to streamline its operations so a greater proportion of the force is actual infantry."

I think you are exactly right. And they could use the Marine Corps as a perfect model.