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Ntfs_encryption
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 2997
Registered: 10-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 23, 2008 - 03:45 am: | 
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US military severely strained, officers say
Posted 21 Feb 2008
WASHINGTON - The US military is "severely strained" by two large-scale occupations in the Middle East, other troop deployments, and recruiting problems, according to a new survey of military officers published by Foreign Policy magazine and the centrist think-tank Center for a New American Strategy.
"They see a force stretched dangerously thin and a country ill-prepared for the next fight," said the report, "The US Military Index", which polled 3,400 current and former high-level military officers.
Sixty percent of the officers surveyed said that the military is weaker now than it was five years ago, often citing the number of troops deployed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We ought to pay more attention to quality," said retired Lieutenant General Gregory Newbold, who retired from the Joint Chiefs of Staff in part over objections to the invasion of Iraq, at a panel during a conference to release the data.
From Republican presidential hopeful Senator John McCain to President George W Bush, politicians regularly speak on the military from a position of authority. They know, they contend, that despite the two ongoing wars, the US is ready to deal with new threats militarily if need be.
"I'm sorry to tell you, there's going to be other wars," said McCain at a campaign stop last month. "We will never surrender but there will be other wars."
But the officers surveyed implied that military options against future threats may not be - as politicians from across the spectrum have intimated - "on the table".
"Asked whether it was reasonable or unreasonable to expect the US military to successfully wage another war at this time," said the report, "80 percent of the officers say that it is unreasonable."
When asked to grade the preparedness of the military to deal with the threat of Iran - on which McCain's rhetoric has been especially hawkish - respondents gave an average score of 4.5 on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 representing fully prepared.
The difference in which civilian and military leadership are viewed also made its way into the survey results. The level of confidence in the presidency among officers averaged just 5.5 out of 10, with 16% having "no confidence at all in the president".
The US Congress scored lowest of the institutions surveyed, with an average score of just 2.7.
The low regard for politicians could arise from the officers' notion that elected officials know little about the workings of the military - 66% of officers responded that elected leaders are "either somewhat or very uninformed about the US military".
Those views are likely informed by survey respondents' opinions about the way the civilian leadership handled the war in Iraq in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Saddam Hussein. Nearly three quarters of the officers said that the goals of the civilian leadership for the military were "unreasonable".
Furthermore, it appears that many officers find that the efforts of US forces have sometimes been counterproductive. Asked what country had gained the "greatest strategic advantage" from the war in Iraq, 37% said Iran while 22% answered China. Just one in five of the officers answered that the US had gained the most.
Though many of the results of the survey were negative, the officers were not pessimistic about the forces themselves. Sixty-four percent of the officers said that they believe morale is high in the military, and nearly 9 in 10 believe that the "surge" escalation was having a positive effect on the war effort.
"The Army is not broken," said Major Robert Scales. Fifty-six percent of those polled agreed, though nearly 90% said that the war in Iraq has "stretched the US military dangerously thin", with just over half agreeing strongly.
A problem for the military, said Scales, could arise if the forces become "hollowed out" as they were after the Vietnam War. Degraded equipment and a loss of some of the fighting force - particularly mid-level officers - could adversely affect the future health of the military.
Thirty-eight percent of the officers advocated increasing the total number of US ground forces to face future challenges, and the same percentage called for the reinstatement of the draft.
By far the most common answer to the question of how to best win the "Global War on Terror" was to improve intelligence - which nearly three quarters of the officers supported. Thirty-eight percent said that the size of Special Operations Forces should be increased.
One of the most interesting splits in survey came on the question of what constitutes torture and whether torture is acceptable as an interrogation method. Prompted with the statement "torture is never acceptable", 53% of the officers agreed and 44% disagreed.
On the subject of "waterboarding" - a harsh interrogation technique that simulates drowning - there was also an even split with 46% saying "waterboarding" is torture and 43% disagreeing.
The report - a rare public look into the thoughts of the military higher-ups - terms itself one of "the few comprehensive surveys of the US military community to be conducted in the past 50 years".
(Inter Press Service)
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Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 6339
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 23, 2008 - 10:09 am: |
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This is what happens when you have people who have never been to war--they think the people on the ground are just arrows and signs like on their wargames--it never occurs to them that they retire, desert, get hurt doing other stuff, sick, homesick, and quit like real people.) |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11654
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 23, 2008 - 12:31 pm: |
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Just another bad omen for the future of The American Empire, hovering on the verge of collapse in all its provinces. Will a new Caesar bring change and save us?? And should he "beware of the Ides of March"?? |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 6347
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 25, 2008 - 12:09 pm: |
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Will a new Caesar bring change and save us?? And should he "beware of the Ides of March"??
(Cynique, sometimes you are amazing.
Within the next 20 years) |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11676
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 25, 2008 - 01:57 pm: |
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Ntfs_encryption
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 3000
Registered: 10-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 25, 2008 - 03:46 pm: |
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True. The average American who has no spouse, relative or friend in the military, is clueless to the erosion of military readiness and efficiency because of Bush's war. The personal and family strain of repeated back to back tours and deployments can never be overstated. The affects are far reaching, extremely bad and worse than what most people are capable of understanding. I've been there. I know first hand.
This unnecessary cherry picked war is dragging down the morale of our troops and the physical strain on our military assets (fighter jets, tankers, bombers, anti-personnel and vehicle planes [e.g. Hedgehogs],tanks, transport vehicles, ships, etc...) because of non-stop continuous exercises and patrols, is irrefutable. The money used to fund this so-called war has drained our national coffers. Have you noticed all the Draconian budget cuts that are sweeping this nation as a result of siphoning off or completely eliminating federal ear marked funds for the states? Money for education, roads, health care, social programs, winter energy assistance programs, etc, is being used to continue the occupation of Iraq while Bush desperately attempts to stop the federal spending hemorrhaging by cutting social spending and redirecting the funds to support his war. It affects us all.
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Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 2697
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 25, 2008 - 09:36 pm: |
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Agree, Ntfs. But I say this started before GWB, back in the Clinton terms in the Balkans. I still have some friends and family who are active duty, but not many. Most saw the writing on the wall and got out... |
Doberman23
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Doberman23
Post Number: 1208
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - 09:49 pm: |
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i am so glad i am done with my time in the army. i would not have answered my phone if they had called me either. if mccain is president america will be in even more conflict because he makes bad decisions anyone who votes for him is asking for 4 more years of a depleting america |
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