Before I go into my little rant I want to say that I support adding more full-time military personnel.
Every time I see some Democrat who's always been against more military spending, announce we need more troops in Iraq or we need a bigger military, I just chuckle. The Bush Administration needs to call them on it. We do need more troops in our military as we are quite overcommitted. This is a post-9/11 world and we've got lots of hunting to do. At the same time we must continue modernization. These are two things that need to both happen. As I've stated in other entries, this is not an area where we need to go on-the-cheap.
One of my bigger concerns is the use of our Reserves and National Guard. When people sign up for that are they really thinking that they'll be deployed for over a year? Re-enlistment may become a problem.
We, as a country, need to keep the faith with the military. They deserve it.
Posted by Tim at December 15, 2003 06:16 AMTim,
We need 2-3 additional divisions as soon as we can recruit and train them. We probably don't need more troops in Iraq, but more of the right kind. We need fewer combat support (admin, logistics) and mechanized infantry units and more special ops and light infantry guys. We do need more troops state-side as a combat reserve that can respond to contingencies (i.e., N. Korea) and can rotate with the troops in SW Asia.
The dems had eight years to get the military "right", but failed. The several billion additional dollars (approx 25% increase) that we have spent on defense since 01 have gone, in the main, towards maintenance, repair parts and the replenishment of munitions stocks, all items that were severely neglected during the Clinton years. We have bought practically nothing in the way of additional ships, planes, tanks and troops.
Will Hillary and her crowd consent to an additional 20 billion dollars being placed into the defense budget? Will they willingly sacrifice "their" programs in order for this to happen? Let's see if they are really serious about more troops and equipment.
