Doc7505
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- Feb 16, 2016
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America isn’t ready for another war
—
Because it doesn’t have the troops
Vox.com
1 Sep 2024 ~~ By
Coverage of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza is mostly dominated by talk of weapons. Reporters and analysts focus on suicide drones, on shell deficits, on targeting algorithms. But for all the attention devoted to modern weapons and munitions, both conflicts are proving that modern war still comes down to people.
In Ukraine, battlefield deaths on both sides were estimated to number more than 200,000 by the fall of 2023. Though US weapons and munitions have been critical to Kyiv’s war effort, it was territorial militias and hastily trained citizen-soldiers who helped save Ukraine from total conquest in 2022.
At the same time, it was a partial mobilization of more than 300,000 troops that stabilized Russia’s lines and prevented a potential collapse in late 2022. Today, the war has settled into an attritional slugfest, with both sides desperate to keep the flow of new recruits going, to the point where ranks have opened to older men, women, and convicts.
The situation is much the same in the Middle East. On October 7, Israel’s heavily automated Gaza perimeter was breached by well-trained but low-tech Hamas terrorists. The attack was eventually repulsed by conscript soldiers and armed volunteers — even in the “start-up nation” that prides itself on its technological prowess, security depends first and foremost on people. Similar to the Russian mobilization before the invasion of Ukraine, the immediate calling up of 360,000 reservists enabled Israel to conduct its campaign against Hamas and deter other non-state foes in the West Bank and Lebanon.
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America did away with the draft 51 years ago, waging its many wars and interventions since with the All-Volunteer Force (AVF). But “all-volunteer” is a misnomer. Americans aren’t lining up to serve, and the AVF is really an all-recruited force. Its previous annual recruitment of about 150,000 mostly young Americans, who are individually located, pitched, and incentivized to serve, comes at considerable effort and expense.
~Snip~
Should a true national security emergency arise, America lacks the ability to mobilize as Israel and Russia have done. The Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) — comprising former active duty or selected reserve personnel who could be reactivated by the Secretary of Defense during wartime or a national emergency — is designed to act as a bridge from the AVF to a revived draft. Almost forgotten even by servicemembers, the IRR earned brief notoriety when some servicemembers were “stop-lossed” during the Iraq War — pulled from the IRR and returned to active duty involuntarily, usually to deploy again.
Today, there are just over 264,000 servicemembers in the entire IRR. The Army’s IRR pool has shrunk from 700,000 in 1973 to 76,000 in 2023. Forget building new units in wartime: the IRR is now incapable of even providing sufficient casualty replacements for losses from the first battles of a high-intensity war.
~Snip~
The recruiting crisis is a greater national security threat to the United States than the wars that currently dominate the headlines. If there is one lesson America’s leaders should take from the conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, it is that troop mobilization and depth are still essential for fighting wars. As both Israel and Ukraine have learned, no amount of high-tech wizardry has changed this enduring reality of warfare. Should the United States fail to fix its military recruiting, it will risk losing a great power war — with enormous consequences for all Americans.
Commentary:
This is the worst take on our military I have ever seen. lol for starters the military doesn't need to be as large as our enemies. We are better trained and have better technology and force projection capabilities than any other military in the world. We have the most dominant navy that controls 90% of the worlds waters with basic tech that surpasses the best tech our enemies have. We have the ability to do more with less and the experience to back it up. A war with russia or china would be a very one-sided affair. The war in Iraq was most definitely won and the war in Afghanistan accomplished its objective but we hung around to long after.
My next door neighbor a recently retired USAF Master Sgt., tells me this is no longer the military we once knew or heard about.
Draconian rules during Covid and forced accpetance of Homosexal and trans personnel has done immense damage to recruitement.
Sure we can begin a Draft (conscription) in a war breaks out. It takes time to train our military from ground pounders to drone operators to pilots to Navy personnel.
The Complete Marine Corps Boot Camp Schedule (updated for 2024)
Marine Corps Boot Camp is the longest military basic training. It consists of more than 70 "training days" in a period of 13 weeks, with zero days off.
www.marinesbootcamphq.com
The fact is that due to bidget cuts, the Navy has a lack of ships, and the Air Force is mainly flying F-16's and F-15's designs created in the 1970/80's.
America no longer manuactures steel, copper, lead or aluminum in quantities to sustain the needs for a war. We've seen in in supplying the Ukraine and Israel with cannon shells and limited Patriot missiles as well as ATM munitions.
We can than both the political paries for this mess.
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