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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KyrosL who wrote (10976)	11/20/2001 8:32:12 PM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

You are forgetting..... The fact that we are not burdened by all the extra, largely useless, hardware and personnel is a big advantage in the new world: we now have the money to spend where it is really needed: special forces and intelligence. Kyros, you are forgetting that while we have been easily winning, our troop strength has decreased from 2,044,000 in 1990 to 1,384,000 last year. i maintain that we could not do another kuwait if we had too. those quick and short wins required an enormous, fast reacting, logistics capability that really taxed our USAF and Navy at previous strength levels. we no longer have that capability. and that burdensome military hardware that we lost is vital to our regular forces. much of our troop strength in kuwait came from our forces and equipment stationed in western europe. those units have been deactivated and no longer exist. if anything, even as our logistics transport requirements have increased by several thousand miles our abilities and stockpiles have decreased. the problem with the military budget dropping from the $375 billion range to the $250 billion range in that time frame is amplified by a coupla extra factors. these factors cannot be denied...they represent an extraordinary hidden weakening of our forces. 1. a significant amount of the reduced budget was allocated to base closings. these dollars save the general tax fund eventually..but they are carried against the DOD budget and have nothing to do with national defense. 2. during most of this period capital spending was in the $20-25 billion range. yet depreciation was $90 billion annually...that means $65-70 billion in defense equipment was being lost every year and not replaced. that depletion has gone on for years now. 3. approx $18 billion per year in new domestic spending was hidden in the DOD budget. these expenditures were placed there against DOD opposition to hide just how draconian the defense cuts really were imo. re...SF i think SF has performed way above expectations for a long time. around the world, on any one day, in normal times, the number of SF personnel in harm's way runs around 1,000-1,100 daily. i was told that figure personally by the former Commanding General of Special Forces during a dinner chat. as i type this, we have teams all over south america and many other world locations that you never hear a peep out of. but i disagree with the premise that SF will win our future and present wars...that is wishful thinking. it will not happen...and shortly i believe you will see why. what else did i forget? unclewest