cons killing troop morale

[blackumbrella]

Conservative defense analysts and GOP legislative leaders are raising alarms over the pressures that Iraq is imposing on the military, especially the part-time Army National Guard and Reserve. With growing urgency, these critics argue that the Pentagon is relying too heavily on the citizen-soldiers of the Guard and Reserve in Iraq because the administration has refused to enlarge the size of the full-time military enough to meet new demands.

"The problem for the United States is not imperial overstretch, it's trying to run the planet on the cheap," American Enterprise Institute fellow Tom Donnelly, a leading neoconservative defense commentator, wrote recently. Military historian Frederick W. Kagan delivered a similar indictment in the Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine.

Most strikingly, House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) this month urged an increase in the active military and condemned lengthy deployments that he said were compelling Guard and Reserve volunteers to effectively "serve in the permanent forces."

These dissents signal an important shift in the political weather as Bush begins his second term. Until recently, complaints about the Pentagon's personnel strategy came from Democrats and a few maverick Republicans such as Sen. John McCain of Arizona. But it's a more ominous sign for the White House when a GOP leader such as Blunt, ordinarily a loyal soldier for Bush, breaks ranks.

someone tell these cons they're killing troop morale and to shut their mouths!

SEDITION!!!!!!!!

 

[TiderinVA]

I think those comments demonstrate a total lack

of understanding of how quickly increased numbers in the active duty Army can be raised. First of all, it's not a simple matter of signing up more guys. The Army (and the other branches of the military) have a manpower cieling. That cieling can be recommended to be raised or lowered by the President but ultimately, it's Congress who makes that call. They control the purse strings. If they want to raise the manpower cieling, by all means do it but stop whining and blaming the President.

Moreover, even if Congress raises the manpower cieling, you can't have troops over there in 3 weeks time. Between the time Congress allocates more money to sign more folks up, you have to give the Army a finite dollar amount to work with to determine WHERE to spend that money, where to deploy more recruiters, where to spend that advertising money, etc. That takes probably several months. Then, when you find people willing to sign up, the majority are not willing to sign up IMMEDIATELY. They want/need at least several weeks or months to get their affairs in order. Even after they are inducted, it take several months of training before they're ready to be assigned to a unit. From that point, you have travel to Kuwait, a couple of weeks of training and indoctrination to prepare them for what to expect.

Bottom line, it's naive to think that we can have more troops over there in a week or two. If Congress is REALLY serious, then pony up the money, hunker down for several months and stop the whining.

 

[Piglet]

You're making one of your points again, aren't you?