Reply #65: The military needs a raison d'etre. [View All]

[Daemonaquila]

I may be a broken record on this point, but here we go again. When we get the troops (and contractors) back from Iraq and Afghanistan, we're looking at over 200,000 people, probably more, who don't have a military or civilian job to return to here at home. That's going to be another giant kick to the economic 'nads. The military is already worried that it'll have no sandbox to play in, and that there will be no reason to maintain the number of active duty troops or the level of military procurement that it's used to. The War College is looking for something to do, and that something could be right here on our own streets as far as they are concerned. We will probably have that "economic collapse" to some extent, whether before the troops come home or more likely when that load of unemployed folks (with injuries large and small and in many cases PTSD) hits our streets.

There's nothing more dangerous than a military with too much time on its hands... except a civilian government willing to give it lots of rein.