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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mary Cluney who wrote (126083)	12/2/2009 12:11:01 PM
From: Bread Upon The Water	Respond to of 543667

"I am still stuck in thinking that most people in the military spend a lot of time doing useless stuff and hurry around and wait for stuff to happen." I am guessing, as I have been out of the reserves since 97, but probably a good deal of the above still goes on. Believe I'm mostly right about civilians taking over most of the mundane non-soldiering tasks--although we still have supply line chains toward the front that involve military.

To: Mary Cluney who wrote (126083)	12/2/2009 3:04:58 PM
From: cosmicforce	Respond to of 543667

<I am still stuck in thinking that most people in the military spend a lot of time doing useless stuff and hurry around and wait for stuff to happen> I think herein lies the problem. If Motorola only made phones one week out of 13 they'd have a very different kind of operation. We have increased the duty cycle between successive military operations to the point where troops spend all days "trooping" and none in readiness, review and drill activities which are low cost. Either they are practicing attacks or they are involved with them, directly or in reserve. There is no time for anything else. All that other stuff used to be used done by recent recruits (who weren't fully trained) and not paid civilians. Servicemen do not make what contractors make, ever. When the support work of stocking, checking, shining, buffing and inspecting was done, there was literally nothing to do until the next maneuver or operation. Hence, hurry up (train, clean, drill, inspect now) but wait for the operation (or simulation maneuver). Today with no reserves and nearly continuous private forward supply operations costing 10 times what domestic drill costs, it is no wonder the military budget blew up. Our military should be for defense or short term operations abroad with clear military objectives. Grenada and Panama - clear mission. Iraq and Afghanistan - no clear mission. Whether you or I agree with those missions is irrelevant. They are clear missions and we know the end game. Anything else - e.g.sustained military operations - has to be conducted using a purchased or leased logistical function that operates 24/7.