[Marxism] Iraq occupation stretches US military thin

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Two Years Later, Iraq War Drains Military
Heavy Demands Offset Combat Experience

By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 19, 2005; Page A01

Two years after the United States launched a war in Iraq with a crushing
display of power, a guerrilla conflict is grinding away at the resources of
the U.S. military and casting uncertainty over the fitness of the
all-volunteer force, according to senior military leaders, lawmakers and
defense experts.

The unexpectedly heavy demands of sustained ground combat are depleting
military manpower and gear faster than they can be fully replenished.
Shortfalls in recruiting and backlogs in needed equipment are taking a
toll, and growing numbers of units have been broken apart or taxed by
repeated deployments, particularly in the Army National Guard and the Army
Reserve.

"What keeps me awake at night is, what will this all-volunteer force look
like in 2007?" Gen. Richard A. Cody, Army vice chief of staff, said at a
Senate hearing this week.

The Iraq war has also led to a drop in the overall readiness of U.S. ground
forces to handle threats at home and abroad, forcing the Pentagon to accept
new risks -- even as military planners prepare for a global anti-terrorism
campaign that administration officials say could last for a generation.

Stretched by Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States lacks a sufficiently
robust ability to put large numbers of "boots on the ground" in case of a
major emergency elsewhere, such as the Korean Peninsula, in the view of
some Republican and Democratic lawmakers and some military leaders.

They are skeptical of the Pentagon's ability to substitute air and naval
power, and they believe strongly that what the country needs is a bigger
Army. "The U.S. military will respond if there are vital threats, but will
it respond with as many forces as it needs, with equipment that is in
excellent condition? The answer is no," said Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.).

To be sure, the military has also benefited from two years of war-zone
rotations, and from a historical perspective it is holding up better than
many analysts expected. U.S. troops are the most combat-hardened the nation
has had for decades, and reenlistment levels have generally remained high.
The war has also spurred technological innovation while providing momentum
for a reorganization of a military that in many ways is still designed for
the Cold War.

Moreover, military leaders are taking steps to ease stress on the troops by
temporarily boosting ranks; rebalancing forces to add badly needed
infantry, military police and civil affairs troops; and employing civilians
where possible. Yesterday, defense officials worried about recruiting
announced that they will raise the age limit, from 34 to 40, for enlistment
in the Army Guard and Reserve. The Pentagon is spending billions to repair
and replace battle-worn equipment and buy extra armor, radios, weapons and
other gear.

Yet such remedies take time, and no one, including senior officials, can
predict how long the all-volunteer force can sustain this accelerated
wartime pace. Recruiting troubles, especially, threaten the force at its
core. But with a return to the draft widely viewed as economically and
politically untenable, senior military leaders say the nation's security
depends on drumming up broader public support for service.

"If we don't get this thing right, the risk is off the scale," said Lt.
Gen. Roger C. Schultz, director of the Army National Guard, the military's
most stressed branch.

A Tough Sell

At dusk the night the Iraq war started in March 2003, Staff Sgt. Spurgeon
M. Shelley was near the Kuwaiti border, watching the orange glow of
missiles streak overhead as he guided one Marine ammunition convoy after
another north across the line of departure.

Manning a dirt berm while wearing his gas mask and full chemical suit,
Shelley was determined to make it home alive to see his daughter, Lena, 2.
"I'm going to do whatever I have to, to survive," he told himself.

Today, Shelley is on duty in what he calls a "one-man fighting hole" on
another battlefield -- a Marine recruiting station in Lexington Park, Md.,
in St. Mary's County -- with a mission to persuade young men and women to
enlist, and probably go to war.

One recent night, after making dozens of fruitless phone calls to high
school students, Shelley said his recruiting job is more taxing than
combat. "I hear 'no' more times in one day than a child would hear in their
entire childhood," he said. "If I had hair, I'd pull it out."

full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48306-2005Mar18.html


Louis Proyect
Marxism list: www.marxmail.org


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