I understand what you're trying to say, but I think the Army is playing with the hand it was dealt by our government.
We've been told for nearly a generation that we need an army big enough to fight 2 wars, so what did it mean when they cut it from 18 divisions down to 10 and then decided to get into action in the bosnia, and then kosovo, and then Iraq and Afghanistan?
It meant the GOVERNMENT was insisting that the Army deploy and re-deploy the same troops OVER AND OVER AGAIN in the government's game of "how long can we drag out this war."
This is different than in WWII where the troops were activated for longer but weren't brought into and out of danger on one year rotations. They were in it to win it and when it was over it was over and they were home to stay home.
This is different than Vietnam in which troops were on a one year rotation, but many were draftees whose personal hell ended when they got home and got out.
This is our first "long-term rotation war." I can see that the mental toll on our troops is devastating.
At the same time, I'm waiting for more info on Sgt Bales' actions to come out as to what military reasons he might have thought he had for attacking that location at that time. Perhaps there are none, and perhaps he did have a melt-down, but I'm still waiting on judgement until I hear more from his defense team.
Yes, you are correct.