McCain is a blow hard. He's got more dirty laundry than most membrs of both houses. He had a rougher 7 years in Vietnam than I'd like anyone to have, and for that, I respect him without question. But he hasn't been the most forthright individual in the Senate. This is a guy who co-sponsored a bill that direcly attacked the 1st Amendment Rights of regular citizens while allowing guys like George Soros to fund his own private war... campaign finance reform my ass! We had more dirty money in this last election than any in my lifetime. I also don't believe that his role in the S&L Fiasco has ever been fully disclosed.
That said, I think Sec. Rumsfeld has a lot of work to do getting our troops what they need to go shoot bad guys in the teeth. Fully 50% of this nations steel making capacity is idle, and 15% isn't used to its fullest extent.... we have 2 ship builders here in the city with about 10,000 tons of cold rolled plate in their yards, and CNC Plasma Cutting Equipment that could chop it to within 1/1000" in a matter of a few days... and they're not even building anything. The employees are all awaiting a call-back, and have been for 2 years.
We've got one of the largest producers of bullet proof glass in the world not 20 miles from where I'm sitting. They're not idle, but they could do the job if they got the call.
We've got a lot full of M-113's that our National Guard troops left here when they (cannon cockers and F/O's) headed out to Iraq as "Light Infantry". How long would it take to load those up on to flat cars (rail yard runs right behind the armory yard) and get them out to Tacoma, and off to Iraq? Sure, 113's aren't an ideal vehicle, but it's better than nothing. Hell, there's even Up Armored Humvee's over there.
Lord only knows what other gear is just sitting around collecting dust. Sure, I'd miss looking at it on my way into the office every day, but I'd get used to it
As far as "Lighter and more Agile", the first time I heard that phrase was when they started casing up Battalion Colors in the Marine Corps in 1993. To me it means "Doing more, with less gear, less support, and then heading to the next deployment." Idiots like Aspen, Perry and Cohen used "Smaller, Faster Lighter, more Agile" as a means of cutting costs... and combat effectiveness in my book. Imagine what 5 more Marine Infantry Battalions could be doing right now if their Guidons weren't used as a table cloth at some party celebrating "How much money we're saving". 5 more Battalions of Infantry could cover a lot of space in Iraq... hell, we took Kuwait with 8. Same goes for the Army too.
That's what I think about when I think "Smaller, Lighter, more Agile". I think of guys on 7-month base UDP's that get extended for another 5 months because somethng else has come up and we need more "Smaller, Lighter, More Agile" forces forward deployed.
Don't get me wrong, I took my oath, and if I had ended up deployed even more than I already was, I'd have done what I was expected to do without complaint. But when it's because we folded up our replacement units colors "In order to be a 'BETTER' fighting force", that doesn't sit well with me.
NDD, I agree that in many instances, a small, light unit is a viable option... when "smaller, lighter, more agile force" is something other than a buzz word designed to placate people.
Like I said previously, having a long term goal (in SecDefs case, the ability to knock down ICBMs) is great, I have a long term goal... to be a Billionaire. But I'm not going to forsake my childrens college funds in order to save up some more money for long term. I think they're so caught up in getting this new toy up and running that they've taken their eyes off of near term realities of the situation.