Studies Say US Military Runs Risk of “Breaking”

Two reports came out this week both of which concluded that the US military is under intense strain and that the current global military commitments could be unsustainable. Field Marshall Donald von Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, disputed those findings. This is the same man who kept ordering the Pentagon to reduce the number of troops sent to Iraq in the first place. The difference between Pollyanna and Cassandra was that Cassandra was right.

The Associated Press got hold of a report by Andrew F. Krepinevich, retired Army officer and executive director of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, who wrote it in November 2005 under a Pentagon contract. He stated, “Soldiers and brigades are being deployed more frequently, and for longer periods, than what the Army believes is appropriate in order to attract and retain the number of soldiers necessary. It is not clear, even to Army leaders, how long this practice can be sustained.” Dr. Krepinevich is also the author of a report that suggested a new strategy for fighting the war in Iraq which focused on creating safe zones rather than chasing insurgents around with too few forces to secure towns taken. No wonder the Field Marshal doesn’t like this report.

Another study, this one from former Defense Secretary William Perry (not the one nicknamed “The Refrigerator” who played for the Chicago Bears), that came out this week said the military is under immense strain. It added, “If the strain is not relieved, it will have highly corrosive and long-term effects on the military." Elsewhere, the 15-page report says, “We believe that the Bush administration has broken faith with the American soldier and Marine.” Again, them’s fightin’ words to the Busheviks who are committed to smokin’ out the evil-doers (except Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay and Dick Cheney).

The Field Marshal defended his policy that is so brilliant that no one understands it. “It’s clear that those comments do not reflect the current situation. They are either out of date or just misdirected,” he said in a press conference on Wednesday. Making a forceful argument that had nothing to do with the reports’ findings he said, “The world saw the United States military go halfway around the world in a matter of weeks, throw the al-Qaeda and Taliban out of Afghanistan, in a landlocked country thousands and thousands of miles away. They saw what the United States military did in Iraq. And the message from that is not that this armed force is broken, but that this armed force is enormously capable.”

The facts, which the Bush administration never likes to think about, show that every brigade in the Army has served at least one tour in Iraq or Afghanistan. Some are going back for the third time. The Army was 6,600 recruits short of its 80,000 goal for 2005, the first time it has missed its goal since 1999 and the biggest shortfall since 1980. The Army has achieved its recruitment goals for the past 7 months, most of which were lowered (which accounts for the success). The top age for a recruit into the Army is now 42 rather than 35, and bonuses for enlistment and re-enlistment are way up. The force may be the most capable military in the history of mankind, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t under stress, and it doesn’t mean that it isn’t stretched too thin.


© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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