(no subject)
Since I haven't blabbered on about this in a few months. This is a piece of what I wrote in response to an email I received on August 21:
"You should care that an 'overworked American soldier" descerated a copy of the Koran especially if you are the type of person that believes a flag-burner should be arrested. You should be concerned that the army hasn't met it's quota in almost 2 years, and that they are already projecting the effort and soldier rotation through the year 2009. Those soldiers are being overworked, and there might come a time when the demand for soldiers outweighs those willing to serve. We are working the soldiers as hard as our own prison guards, who are often forced to work overtime, whether then want to or not."
and
"I am amazed how desensitized we are to needless violence. Every person that serves our government and is killed is a person of potential we cannot determine. The next person that dies could've been the person that cured cancer, or pulled you out of a burning building, or given an organ to a dying relative."
Now, we get a report done by a pentagon official, which has been released to the AP. Here are some of the interesting facts that have been uncovered.
"Stretched by frequent troop rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has become a "thin green line" that could snap unless relief comes soon, according to a study for the Pentagon.
Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer who wrote the report under a Pentagon contract, concluded that the Army cannot sustain the pace of troop deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency. He also suggested that the Pentagon's decision, announced in December, to begin reducing the force in Iraq this year was driven in part by a realization that the Army was overextended.
George Joulwan, a retired four-star Army general and former NATO commander, agrees the Army is stretched thin.
"Whether they're broken or not, I think I would say if we don't change the way we're doing business, they're in danger of being fractured and broken, and I would agree with that," Joulwan told CNN last month.
Krepinevich did not conclude that U.S. forces should quit Iraq now, but said it may be possible to reduce troop levels below 100,000 by the end of the year. There now are about 136,000, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.
He said he concluded that even Army leaders are not sure how much longer they can keep up the unusually high pace of combat tours in Iraq before they trigger an institutional crisis. Some major Army divisions are serving their second yearlong tours in Iraq, and some smaller units have served three times."
The full article can be found here:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/25/army.study.ap/index.html
Let's get this thing finished. We removed Saddam from power. Checked for WMD's and didn't find any. They elected a government to govern. We are done with what we said we had to do, whether we agreed with it or not. It's time to move on, and let the Iraqi's do what they have to do, which they won't be able to do with us there. No matter what kind of government they have, with us there, it won't be seen to have validity and they will still consider themselves occupied. Unless this whole thing is to keep an eye on Iran, let's get out and work on other places that need or intervention.
Krunchy
"You should care that an 'overworked American soldier" descerated a copy of the Koran especially if you are the type of person that believes a flag-burner should be arrested. You should be concerned that the army hasn't met it's quota in almost 2 years, and that they are already projecting the effort and soldier rotation through the year 2009. Those soldiers are being overworked, and there might come a time when the demand for soldiers outweighs those willing to serve. We are working the soldiers as hard as our own prison guards, who are often forced to work overtime, whether then want to or not."
and
"I am amazed how desensitized we are to needless violence. Every person that serves our government and is killed is a person of potential we cannot determine. The next person that dies could've been the person that cured cancer, or pulled you out of a burning building, or given an organ to a dying relative."
Now, we get a report done by a pentagon official, which has been released to the AP. Here are some of the interesting facts that have been uncovered.
"Stretched by frequent troop rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has become a "thin green line" that could snap unless relief comes soon, according to a study for the Pentagon.
Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer who wrote the report under a Pentagon contract, concluded that the Army cannot sustain the pace of troop deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency. He also suggested that the Pentagon's decision, announced in December, to begin reducing the force in Iraq this year was driven in part by a realization that the Army was overextended.
George Joulwan, a retired four-star Army general and former NATO commander, agrees the Army is stretched thin.
"Whether they're broken or not, I think I would say if we don't change the way we're doing business, they're in danger of being fractured and broken, and I would agree with that," Joulwan told CNN last month.
Krepinevich did not conclude that U.S. forces should quit Iraq now, but said it may be possible to reduce troop levels below 100,000 by the end of the year. There now are about 136,000, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.
He said he concluded that even Army leaders are not sure how much longer they can keep up the unusually high pace of combat tours in Iraq before they trigger an institutional crisis. Some major Army divisions are serving their second yearlong tours in Iraq, and some smaller units have served three times."
The full article can be found here:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/25/army.study.ap/index.html
Let's get this thing finished. We removed Saddam from power. Checked for WMD's and didn't find any. They elected a government to govern. We are done with what we said we had to do, whether we agreed with it or not. It's time to move on, and let the Iraqi's do what they have to do, which they won't be able to do with us there. No matter what kind of government they have, with us there, it won't be seen to have validity and they will still consider themselves occupied. Unless this whole thing is to keep an eye on Iran, let's get out and work on other places that need or intervention.
Krunchy