Posted by
Husker Jeff on Monday, August 20, 2007 11:32:37 AM
I am sick to death of hearing how Iraq has broken our military. How we are crumbling under the load.
Lets look some simple facts. As of 2005, we have:
- Army 412,400
- Navy 365,900
- Marines 178,000
- Air Force 359,000
This lends us a total active duty force of 1,315,300 total soldiers. In addition to that, we have 456,800 National Guard and 404,100 Reserves, for a grand total of 2,176,200 total force strength.
Now, compare that with our “War on Terror” commitments. Including Iraq, Afghanistan, and support forces in Saudi, Kuwait, and in the Red Sea, we have a total of approximately 200,000 soldiers in theatre. In other words, we have 1/6th of our total regular military engaged in this war. Including the Guard and Reserves we have less than 10% of our forces engaged.
If this amount of stress can break our forces, we need new generals.
No, the real problem is one of focus and of Generalship. Our military has been set for decades as a line combat army focused on massed tank battles and continent wide lines of battle. It has not been focused on small group engagements, insurgency control, and special operations. And this is the skill set needed.
Yes, many of our soldiers are getting tired. These are special ops and police units; the ones who specialize in pacification and small unit combat. Our bomber, fighter, navy, and line tankers are not tired and in fact are barely used. Donald Rumsfeld tried to change the focus and has been fought by the senior military staff tooth and nail. They are still prepared to fight the last war, not this one.
At this point, the probability of a land war with any opponent other than China is nearly nil. Reorganization is critical with changes to the MOS of many of our soldiers.
No, we are not broken, though the General Staff is showing signs of that.