The U.S. Military, The Big Picture Is Not Good

< The US Military in Iraq

Based on where the U.S. has been directed over the past 30 years, there are fewer places where the US still holds a first place position.

Three of these areas are:

The United States is:

>>>Worlds largest weapons manufacturer and supplier.

>>>Worlds best trained and equipped military.

>>>World largest debtor nation.

For a nation of immigrants that was once in first place in most all areas, and was the world's most admired nation for its; benevolence, infrastructure, fairness, generosity, free educational opportunities, religious freedom, and opportunities for all, this is a pretty sad situation.

Unfortunately, even when looking at the three areas listed above, the first place position of the; "best trained and equipped military" is now looking to be in jeopardy. Here are some examples where our military is seriously in some dire straits:

A Stretched Military:

Most likely, everyone has heard the statement that because of the extended occupation of Iraq and the deployment in Afghanistan, we currently have a; "seriously stretched American military". But, just what does that really mean?

According to a Pentagon Report by Andrew Krepinevich, a retired US Army officer and the Dir. of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments; "Due to the now more frequent troop rotations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has become a thin green line that could snap unless relief comes soon." Krepinevich has concluded that; "The Army can no longer sustain the pace of troop deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency."

The decision in December 2005, to begin reducing the force in Iraq, that has since been over-ridden by the President's "Surge", was originally driven by the top military official's realization that the Army was well over-extended. Now, 2 1/2 years and an escalation "Surge" later, the "over extension" has gone well beyond the original concept.

In an interview, Krepinevich stated; "You really begin to wonder just how much stress and strain there is on the Army and how much longer it can continue. The Army is currently still a highly effective fighting force, but they are now implementing a plan that will expand the number of combat brigades available for rotations to the Middle East." If a brigade were needed today in another area of the world for protecting Americans, there is not one single Army brigade available in the US that is fully trained, equipped and ready for deployment. This has not been an issue with the United States military since the early months of World War II.

The 136 page Pentagon report represents a more sobering picture of the Army's condition than military officials offer outwardly to the public. While not released "publicly", a copy of the report was provided in response to an Associated Press inquiry. One of Krepinevich's chapters in the report is titled "Thin Green Line". He wrote that; "The Army is in a race against time to adjust to the demands of war or to risk 'breaking' the force in the form of a catastrophic decline in recruitment and re-enlistment."

Krepinevich's report is just one of the assessments in the debate over whether the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have worn out the army and if the US military is too burdened to defeat other future threats. House Representative John Murtha (D-Penn), is a long-time military man and Vietnam Vet. For many months, he has called for an early exit from Iraq, stating that the Army is; "Broken, worn-out and continuing to fuel the insurgency by its mere presence in the region." Retired four-star Army general and former NATO commander, George Julian agrees that the Army is stretched too thin. The general told CNN; "Whether they are broken or not, I think I would say if we don't change the way we're doing business, I would agree that they're in danger of being fractured and broken."

Krepinevich would not say that the US should quit Iraq, but he did conclude that it should be possible to reduce the troop level from today's 150,000 to well under 100,000 by the end of the year. (President Bush and his General Petraeus currently disagree with this conclusion.) For a US Army of 500,000 troops, over 1,000,0000 troops have been rotated through the Middle East since the invasion of Iraq. This is more than four times the rotations that were originally estimated by the Pentagon.

Krepinevich also stated that the Pentagon officials do not state publicly about the stress on the Army as; "It gives too much encouragement to the enemy." He concluded that; "Army leaders are not sure how much longer they can keep up the unusually high pace of combat tours before they trigger an institutional military crisis."

US Troop Suicides

The stress of the multiple, 12-15 month long tours in a war zone are showing in a way that no one had seriously anticipated in the military. Especially, since the troops were originally only going to need to be in Iraq for 6 to 12 months max. It is now more than obvious that there was never any preparation by this administration for the physical, and specifically mental attrition that is happening with the US troops in the Middle East.

Not only are the hospitals overwhelmed with the number of wounded troops that have been filling the military hospitals, but the increases in military suicides is continuing to escalate with both the troops in Iraq and those at home when trying to adjust after their long and dangerous tours of duty.

Even though the official number of suicide attempts for 2007 was stated at 790, according to an official internal VA e-mail from Dr. Ira Katz, the VA head of Mental Health, he has stated that officials had been seeing as many as 1,000 suicide attempts per month. Dr. Katz had previously said that; "There is no epidemic in suicides in the VA." However, this e-mail to his top media adviser, written two months ago, appears to be saying something quite different. The actual quote from the e-mail is as follows; "Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among the veterans we see in our medical facilities." The e-mail was titled; "Not for the CBS NEWS interview request." On the Monday before the actual CBS interview, CBS NEWS showed the e-mail to Rep. Bob Filner (Dem-CA), Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. Rep. Filner said; "This is disgraceful. This is a crime against our nation and our nation's veterans. They (the VA) do not want to come to grips with the reality, with the truth."

In 2005, CBS NEWS had exposed an epidemic of 6,200 suicides for the year. Dr. Katz stated at the time regarding CBS NEWS that "Their number is not, in fact, an accurate reflection of the rate." Actually the CBS number was a low number, as Dr. Katz said in an e-mail 3 days later. His e-mail stated that there were an average of; "18 suicide attempts per day among 25 million US veterans." 18 suicide attempts per day equals 6,570 suicide attempts over 365 days. According to the available information, the 18 suicide attempts per day are for the veterans here in the US medical facilities or as medical out-patients. The number of suicide attempts for those on active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan is estimated at 5, US soldiers per day. Suicide attempts for those on active duty before the invasion of Iraq was 1 per day. Senator Jim Webb (Dem-VA), also a veteran, has recently introduced legislation to improve the military's suicide prevention programs.

Military Hardware Condition:

Per Jim Miklaszewski - Chief Pentagon correspondent - NBC News

Before the war in Iraq, Pentagon officials had predicted that by now, Iraq would be pacified and most American troops would be long gone. But as the war drags on, the toll it's taking is far greater than expected — not only on the soldiers, but their equipment as well. In fact, senior military officials now tell NBC News all the major military equipment — trucks, tanks, helicopters and even guns — are breaking down or wearing out at a faster rate than first estimated.

It's not only due to the harsh desert conditions in Iraq, but the enemy has proven far more effective and resilient than anyone in the Pentagon had imagined. That's putting a far greater load on such equipment as Humvees and tanks — which are working at ten-times the normal rate. "We're running the tracks off them," says NBC military analyst Gen. Barry McCaffrey (ret.) "They're going, instead of 800 miles a year, 8,000 miles a year and we're not rebuilding it."

This also putting a tremendous stress on the military´s ability to fix them. The number of tanks requiring major repairs is up 600%. Before the war, some 300 Humvees a year would go through a major overhaul. Today that number has skyrocketed to 5,700 — a jump of nearly 2,000%. "Our folks are in a constant cycle of repair, repair, repair to return this equipment to the force," says Gary Motsek, with the U.S. Army Support Operations.

And the cost is staggering. Last year the Army received an additional $1 billion of tax payer dollars to pay for wartime repairs. This year the price tag is expected to climb to $9 billion.

Even then, it's an increase in military spending that will extend well beyond the war. "Should the war end today, it would take 5+ years for the United States Army to replenish itself and bring its equipment back to proper state," says Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., and a member of the House Armed Services Committee. (And this does NOT include the requirements of the US Marines.) But in fact, the war appears nowhere near ending. Off the record, military officials expect 100,000 American troops and their equipment to remain in Iraq for at least the next two+ years.

Military Enlistments:

Per: L.C. Baldor, Associated Press

Under pressure to meet combat needs, the Army and Marine Corps brought in significantly more recruits with felony convictions last year than in 2006, including some with manslaughter and sex-crime convictions. Data released by a congressional committee shows the number of soldiers admitted to the Army with felony records jumped from 249 in 2006 to 511 in 2007. And the number of Marines with felonies rose from 208 to 350. Those numbers represent a fraction of the more than 180,000 recruits brought in by the active duty Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2007. But they highlight a trend that has raised concerns both within the military and on Capitol Hill.

The bulk of the crimes involved were burglaries, other thefts and drug offenses, but some involved sex crimes and others involved manslaughter or vehicular homicide convictions. A number of Army and Marine recruits had aggravated assault or robbery convictions, including incidents involving weapons. Both the Army and Marine Corps have been struggling to increase their numbers as part of a broader effort to meet the combat needs of a military fighting a war and occupation on two fronts. As a result, the number of recruits needing waivers for crimes or other bad conduct has grown in recent years, as well as those needing medical or aptitude waivers.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman, who released the data, noted that there may be valid reasons for granting the waivers and giving individuals a second chance. But he added, "Concerns have been raised that the significant increase in the recruitment of persons with criminal records is a result of the strain put on the military by the Iraq war and may be undermining military readiness."

The services use a waiver process to let in recruits with felony convictions, and many of the crimes were committed when the service members were juveniles. "Waivers are used judiciously and granted only after a thorough review," said Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington. He added that "a protracted war on terror, a decline in propensity to serve, and the growing reluctance of parents, teachers and other adults to recommend young people go into the military, has made recruiting a major challenge".

According to the data released yesterday, a bit more than half of the Army´s convictions in 2007 were for various types of thefts, ranging from burglaries to bad checks and stolen cars. An additional 130 were for drug offenses.

Fortunately, there were no Air Force or Navy recruits with waivers for felony convictions in 2007.

Neither the Army nor the Marines met their original recruiting goals for 2007 or 2008 and cash and educational tuition "incentives" continue to be raised in order to increase (basically for "bribing") more individuals into signing up for the military or for convincing current service members to re-enlist.

Stated here are 4 key areas that, with the multiple brigades of the US military having to remain in the Middle East, are creating a long-term problem of getting the health of the "Worlds Best Trained and Equipped Military" back into the "absolute best condition" for protecting the American people at a moments notice.