Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says recruiting shortage not a problem:
PORTSMOUTH — The nation’s senior military officer Tuesday dismissed as “wrong” any perception that the Pentagon is struggling to get enough troops for operations in the Middle East.
“If we need more, we can generate more,” said Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Myers spoke at a symposium at the Renaissance Portsmouth Hotel and Waterfront Conference Center, sponsored by the U.S. Joint Forces Command and the National Defense Industrial Association, and later held a news conference.
He said the structure of today’s armed forces comes from the Cold War era and will be changed as the Pentagon begins its Quadrennial Defense Review, a look every four years at where the military is heading. The next review will focus on lessons learned in the fight against terrorism.
How the military is now organized “is an issue which doesn’t allow us to be as agile and as flexible and as fast as we would like to be as we alert folks, or mobilize reserve components,” Myers said.
“But that is a systemic issue that is a result of the way we were structured. We are in the middle of a war and we are trying to redo that. I know we will be successful.”
Likewise, Myers suggested that the monthly recruiting goals for the Army and Marine Corps that were missed earlier this year are not causing significant problems.
Calling the morale of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan “extremely high” and their progress “very positive,” Myers bestowed on today’s service members a title given in recent years to their grandfathers from World War II.
“In many respects, this is the nation’s greatest generation,” he told reporters.
Myers, who is scheduled to retire Sept. 30 after four years as the nation’s top military officer, said the nation still needs young Americans to raise their right hands and serve.
While there are many reasons men and women enter the military, the main one is that they are convinced the nation remains in danger, he said.
“The stakes are very high,” according to Myers.
For those who don’t think America’s way of life is at risk, “go back to 9/11 and think about how it impacted on your life. Think about how another major tragedy like 9/11 might happen again, which is certainly possible,” he said.
Having returned from Afghanistan and Iraq about three weeks ago, Myers said he remains concerned about drug production in Afghanistan, the top problem for its new government.
In Iraq, he is optimistic after watching “Iraqis training Iraqis” in security functions and was impressed by a demonstration of 3,000 Iraqi cadets that showed how they have perfected survival skills, learned to protect their families and performed their jobs enthusiastically.
He said it remains important that the United States continues to mentor the Iraqi people and not let their progress stall.
The symposium, which ends today and was attended Tuesday by about 400 people, aims to raise the defense industry’s awareness and set the stage for rapid solutions to the military’s wartime challenges.
home.hamptonroads.com |
