Military months away from serious dysfunction, may be permanently damaged

[G_j]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041205C.shtml

How Many Have Gone to War?
By Mark Benjamin
Salon.com

Tuesday 12 April 2005

Even experts are surprised at the vast numbers of US soldiers who have been deployed after 9/11. Even if troop levels in Iraq are cut next year, the military may be permanently damaged.


(Photo: Salon.com)

Three and a half years have passed since U.S. bombs started falling in Afghanistan, and ever since then, the U.S. military has been engaged in combat overseas. What most Americans are probably unaware of, however, is just how many American soldiers have been deployed. Well over 1 million U.S. troops have fought in the wars since Sept. 11, 2001, according to Pentagon data released to Salon. As of Jan. 31, 2005, the exact figure was 1,048,884, approximately one-third the number of troops ever stationed in or around Vietnam during 15 years of that conflict.

More surprising is the number of troops who have gone to war since 9/11, come back home, and then were redeployed to the battle zone. Of all the troops ever sent to Iraq or Afghanistan, one-third have gone more than once, according to the Pentagon. In the regular Army, 63 percent of the soldiers have been to war at least one time, and almost 40 percent of those soldiers have gone back. The highest rate of first-time deployments belongs to the Marine Corps Reserve: Almost 90 percent have fought.

The data sheds new light on how all-consuming the post-9/11 wars have been for the U.S. military, and suggests a particular strain on U.S. ground forces. An increasing number of military experts believe those forces -- the Army and Marines -- are months away from being overtaxed to the point of serious dysfunction. The situation in Iraq must continue to stabilize. If it doesn't, and the Bush administration continues to both reject the idea of a draft and rebuff efforts to permanently increase the size of the Army and Marines, U.S. ground forces will break down to a point not seen since just after Vietnam.

..more..

[liberalhistorian]

1. If Bush continues on this path, I just don't see

how we're going to be able to avoid the re-implementation of the draft. There's just no other way around it. Bush and his cronies are living in fairy land if they think they can just keep going like this without more troops.

And that's going to be a serious problem for them, because an awful lot of people, including Bush voters, will not even hear of a draft and won't stand for it. The first ones to be drafted, of course, should be Bush's twins.

[leftofthedial]

2. Army generals are openly talking about the need for a draft

even if Iraq de-escalates at the optimal rate

[earth mom]

14. You got that right-the * twins followed by every freeper out there! nt

[liberalhistorian]

23. Yeah, but good luck with that

ever happening. I don't think we'll ever have to worry about seeing the children of the rich or politicians' kids marching off to war, at least not most of them. They can start wars, but it's for us "little people" to fight them. Why should they worry their "beautiful minds" over it. They can say all they want that it won't be like Vietnam, that everyone will be subject to the draft regardless of student or other "special" status, but I'll believe it when I see it. Which will be never.

[punpirate]

3. "Months away from serious dysfunction"....

I'm sure there are some in the White House who are saying, "good, we can squeeze in one more war with Iran before the whole bunch goes belly-up."

Now, for those who think ever-bigger military budgets bring more security... ask yourselves how long it took Bush to break the human part of that military system.... :grr:

[MADem]

16. What that means in english

...is that they are months away from missing shipping goal. You have to feed a specified number of bodies into the pipeline to keep the beast healthy. They are already missing recruiting goal, and what they are doing to keep the pipeline full is stealing from the DEP pool (you wanted to go in December, you go instead in April and we give you the training that you wanted in the first place, e.g.).

But you cannot continue to rob Peter to pay Paul. Eventually, it all collapses. That is where we are at right now.

The military can recover from this sort of mess, but it takes years. Anyone who lived through the "hollow military" years remembers what it was like.

In other threads, I have postulated about the likelihood of a very SELECTIVE effort to fill the ranks. I think it will not be a lottery draft like the old days, but a targeted, SELECTIVE form of service (hence the name) to fill just the gaps they are experiencing. There won't be any TV display, instead, Americans will quietly get letters in the mail ordering them to report to a MEPS for an induction physical.

Anyone who is registered, or will register for the draft will be required to fill out forms and answer questions that will help the government cull out the useless, and target the skillsets they need. If you fail to do it, or lie on the form, they will threaten you with large fines and imprisonment. If you fail to keep them apprised of your current address, they will put out an APB and you could find yourself arrested by Officer Friendly of the local PD.

[punpirate]

18. Oh, no question about it...

... if you're a computer/network tech, a med tech, an electrician, etc., you're probably going to find yourself in an unpleasant situation.

But, for the short term, they can keep recycling bodies--shuffling them back and forth from Iraq/Afghanistan to Europe to here and then back again. I think that's the tragic statistic in this article--that 40% of the ones who've already pulled a tour in a war zone have done another. There's an inevitable feeling, a quite natural one, that a second tour ups the odds of coming home in a box, and that's got to affect morale. And, in the case of reservists, is this going to be the tour where they lose the house, or the business, etc.

Where the real crunch will come is in the inactive ready reserves-- those who got out just before the stop-loss orders went into effect and still have two or three years left on their eight-year commitment. I have a feeling that with a month or two more of missing recruitment goals, we'll be seeing that group drawn on heavily, and that's one which will also pretty much fly under the media's radar.

Rummy may say everything's just peachy, but the stats suggest otherwise.

[MADem]

19. And if you have language skills, you are sunk

Already the services have implemented a new transformation requirement that officers be bilingual -- not fully, necessarily, but have documented language ability at the conversational level to promote past a certain level. To make flag or general officer, you will have to sing like a canary in at least two languages.

Just so you know, they are RECALLING RETIREES WITH LANGUAGE SKILLS...and we aren't talking French now! I'm not happy....

[gademocrat7]

4. Another mess that shrub has made

he needs to be impeached. Maybe he and his cronies could do a tour of duty.

[liberalhistorian]

5. Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz,

wouldn't last two days in Iraq or any other military situation. It's why none of them have ever served in combat though they had the opportunity to do so. Of course, we must remember that Cheney had "other priorities" as he so eloquently put it. Funny, my uncle, a marine in Vietnam, and his buddies, along with many family friends, wish THEY could have had "other priorities" as well, and I'm sure the 58,000 names on the Wall wish they could have that also.

[seabeyond]

6. cant start wars, if we dont have a military

maybe ultimately that is our price to pay for our aggrogance and greed. better start learning to play nice with others

[B Calm]

7. Read my lips, no draft...

Bush might have to eat those words..

[Just Me]

15. I sincerely got the impression he was doing that in jest and on purpose.

Almost like giving the finger to his father as he expects TO eat those particular words.

[MADem]

21. It won't be a draft, it will be very "selective" service

Most of y'all won't be affected, nothing to see, move along....

This "opportunity" will only be afforded to those with specific skillsets, and if you fail to take the "opportunity" we will put yer commie ass in jail! Oh, and God Bless America!

[Terran1212]

8. More incentive to demand troops leave from Iraq

[gratuitous]

9. Just pieces on a big Risk board

That's all the Bush administration sees the military as, inanimate objects to be deployed and moved around as if playing a global game of Risk. Morale? Supply lines? Rotations? What are yoiu talking about? Just put the pieces out there until they conquer or get rolled away.

[jean]

10. except bush is too damn dumb to even play Risk, much less be CIC

[gratuitous]

11. Which is why I was careful

I specified the Bush administration, not Stupidhead personally. Part of the "risk" when no one at the policy level has any military experience is that none of them has the least idea what the military needs to function. Instead, they just throw money at their contractors and hope for the best.

[natrat]

12. guy must be the antichrist

literally EVERYTHING he does is wrong on multiple levels

defies the imagination

[jean]

13. as a group, they would play a lousy game of Risk. But I understand

what you're saying (and don't forget how we've heard there is no policy arm in this administration). They will run out of currency, playing pieces and options.

[Clark2008]

17. What if they gave a war and nobody showed up? n/t

[Ilovestout]

20. they had a duty to disobey orders to invade Iraq

the reason they had the duty to disobey such orders is because of situations just like this. The US barely has the manpower to do the right things, it certainly doesn't have the manpower to do so many wrong things.

[Disturbed]

22. Before a Draft there will probobly be a ..

major recruitment campaign from the 3rd world. Sign up for the U.S. Military and gain citizenship. There are alreasy around 30K non-U.S. citizens serving in the U.S. Military.

[G_j]

24. not to mention mercenaries

/ rent-a-thug

[newyawker99]

25. Hi Ilovestout!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[G_j]

26. hey lurkers

feel better about your fearless leader?
Listen up!
The military voices calling Bush on his BS will grow to a loud roar once these people are legally allowed to speak out.