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Old 03-20-2012, 19:41   #4
Arma Viri
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Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 17
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Reaper View Post
Why do you think this is Dempsey's call as the CJCS?

You do realize that when the civilian leadership tells the uniformed leadership that your budget is cut, your options are limited to working with it or resigning, correct?

TR
Of course it's not Dempsey making all the calls. I am aware of that. The Sec tells him what he must do. I just don't think it is the wise decision to lighten the overall force by creating all kinds of hybrid units. One could also reduce though retain initial capability. that would be a matter of checking who holds the oldest rights. Which in the case of the Tankies is 1st Cav and not 1st Amd. So 1st Amd gets slated. At least you retain one full size tank division. And it kinda sorta hurts to see 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Inf being transformed into weird 'combined arms' brigades because the leadership wants the military to be a modular force. Which I find a flawed decision from a strategic pov. America is a big nation, it needs the capacity to fight regular vis a vis regular. DoD leadership is stripping the US military of it's full coverage of the battlefield capability. We have seperate branches of service for a reason. Reasons that have been made up by military theorists and strategists and other subject matter experts who happen to be way smarter then 'politicians' who only run for office for their own benefit. What your leadership is doing right now is destroying the military alltogether! I fully understand the need to balance the budget and all that. you guys have a debt of... what is it? 15 trillion by now?? So the urgency to take appropriate measures is there, it's just that I'm not happy about the fact it's being done at the <Bde level. Because that is the very level where you shouldn't stir up the hornets nest. For instance, how do you plan on picking a fight against a regular opponent that calls up an amd div with a Bde that consists of Bn's made up of 2 Tk Coy's/2 MechInfCoy's and a "light Inf Bn" (whatever that may be, be it Abn/Aaslt or other extremely vulnerable and difficult to sustain unit). This whole combined Arms concept might work well in a CIS or kicking the shit out of bandits in Africa (you guys still have to settle some scores in Mog man, what these [.......] degenerates did with the bodies of your brethren is unforgivable....), but I hardly consider it an option against a well equiped, highly structered, regular opponent with no BS war fighting capability. WTSHTF you want escalation dominance aka the heavy iron to take care of business. My bottom line is: if you want to downsize, go ahead, but at least retain initial capability in Bde strength. Don't mix units making them effectively weaker and more vulnerable. Yes, WW2 had its fair share of Combined formations -in fact they were invented back then, but we must not forget that the differences in technology were marginal at best, and we fought rather different back in those days. Today is a hole different thing. The idea is to make the force leaner, but meaner. Which means cut to free up money that can be invested in better equipment, since alot of what you have dates back to the Reagan build-up. Virtually all of that equipment has been worn out by now and neds to be replaced.

Btw, tell me something. Why is it the US isnt so inclined to buy from abroad? Is this blind patriotism or does it really have to with the creation of jobs in the US? I understand the Arty wanted the PZH2000 but Rumsfeld said it's not gonna happen. Is that correct? Man, I've seen her in action, worked with it. She's a beauty! M109 doesnt even come close... (I've fired it, I know how it works) So instead of escalating R&D budgets over and over, maybe the US should really start looking for nice stuff which is already there? Su-35S's anyone?
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