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Several years ago it was decided by many fire departments to start responding an engine company on rescue calls to provide the third set of hands sometimes necessary with serious injuries. It also meant a faster response time on many calls. Sounded good and everything seemed to go along just fine but then the law of unintended consequences raised its ugly head. Big, expensive pieces of fire fighting apparatus were wearing out way more quickly than in the past. Fire trucks costing a quarter of a million dollars or more each, that in the past had simply disappeared from their station afters few runs but daily, relentless polishings from their crews were suddenly wearing out. Turns out these behemoths were never designed for the multiple runs day after day, 365 days a year. That's what happens when, no matter the good intentions, you start using a piece of equipment designed for a very specific task for an unrelated task. And that's were our armed forces are today. They were never designed for the kind of PC they have been forced to fight in Iraq, etc. As a result they, like those big shiny fire engines are wearing out long before their time.

I was a strong supporter of the invasion of Iraq. In fact, you would have to look long and hard to find anyone more ready for that action to be taken than I was. But my eagerness to rid of Saddam was based on the belief, now shown to be mistaken, that we would do the way it should be done.

My feeling now is that if we aren't going to do this thing the right way then it's indeed time to bring our troops home. I think we are moving in the right direction with 'The Surge' but the recent full court press by the MSM/Lefties to aide and abet the enemy is taking its toll on that effort. It's not even well underway yet and it's been declared a failure by the war's opponents.

If the Army is indeed nearing the breaking point the fastest way to fix is to let them do what they are trained and to and what they joined the armed services to do.

Very interesting comments...I agree with what you have said. When a society has declined to a point where not even a devastating attack on its homeland can rally the nation to support the hard and often heartbreaking work necessary to restore security, the stage is set for an upheaval of historic proportions. The majority of Americans are no longer capable- due to decades of ease, Leftist treachery, and a false sense of safety- of recognizing the peril that we now face. Only a calamitous strike from without and/or intense political confrontation from within will now stand any chance of stopping the nation's slide into the abyss. The former seems more likely than the latter.

I wrote to President Bush and selected senators in Feb. 2002 recommending that the Armed Forces be augmented with a military draft and that overwhelming force be applied to those elements in the Middle East that are uncooperative with respect to rounding up WMD and terrorists. In return, I was basically lectured as to the strong state of our military and the careful approach necessitated by asymmetrical warfare.

I am now quite sure, surprise... surprise, that the country once again has no patience for yet another police action; and it certainly hasn't the fortitude for the hard fighting that will be required to break the backs of the vipers in the Middle East. Fasten your seat belts; it's going to be a bumpy ride. No country, regardless of its inspired founding, has a right to run on the fumes of the past.

I support the "surge" because what else is there; but the war, internal and external, is just beginning. And going into wars with a slighted military is an American speciality.

Fire trucks costing a quarter of a million dollars or more each, that in the past had simply disappeared from their station afters few runs but daily, relentless polishings from their crews were suddenly wearing out. Turns out these behemoths were never designed for the multiple runs day after day, 365 days a year.

Your kidding right?

Our engines lasted a long time. The trucks were driven daily and responded on many calls.