A hat tip to Wretchard at The Belmont Club for noticing this San Francisco Chronicle article on the post-9-11 transformation of the U.S. military. It's an interesting read, although Chronicle staff writer John Koopman manages to get some key points wrong, or he relies on experts (paging John Pike) who are wildly inaccurate in their assessments.
Koopman is correct in noting the obvious--the increased emphasis on counter-insurgency warfare over the past five years. Fighting terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq (and elsewhere) has forced the U.S. military to improvise and adapt. Before 9-11, you couldn't find a reference to an improvised explosive device in a military journal or field manual. Today, the DoD is spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year on that problem, and commanders in the field have developed tactics for dealing with the threat. Amid the daily "blast reports" from Iraq, you never hear the most salient fact: the vast majority of enemy IED attacks are unsuccessful, and as many as 40% are defused before they ever go off--a testament to the skill and innovation of our troops on the ground, and new forms of technology being applied to the problem.
If there's a key fault with the Koopman article, it's his suggestion that an increase in civil affairs operations--the so-called "hearts and minds" effort may hold the ultimate key to defeating insurgents. True, civil affairs is an important part of the equation. But, if such "carrot" efforts are not accompanied by sufficient force--the "stick" portion of the equation--then humanitarian ops may amount to little more than welfare for an indifferent population, or even aid to the enemy. Iraq and Afghanistan have illustrated the need for more civil affairs specialists, but those conflicts have also highlighted the need for more intelligence specialists, more special forces troops, more ISR sensors, and better ways to fuse information into actionable intelligence. Civil affairs is a part of the counter-insurgency solution, but not a magic pill or bullet.
Surprisingly, the oft-mistaken John Pike manages to recognize the "duality" of the U.S. military mission. While prosecuting the GWOT, the armed services must also prepare for potential conflicts against regional players, namely China. But Pike is way off the mark in describing the Chinese as 25 years behind. In reality, the PRC has taken major steps to improve its conventional and strategic forces, through the development of mobile MRBMs and ICBMs; the acquisition of modern surface-to-air missiles, and the purchase of advanced fighters from Russia. Couple that with developments in space, counter-space and ISR, and you can see why some senior U.S. officers describe China as a full "peer competitor" with the United States in the next decade. Pike is correct in stating the the military's dual mission is not sustainable on a $300 billion defense budget. If you want to prepare for the full range of contingencies, you need the current level of spending--and possibly, even more.
A more burning question: will the transformation now underway continue past 2008, if Democrats regain control of the White House? As we've noted before, some of our problems in Iraq and Afghanistan can be traced to force cuts under Bush #41 and Bill Clinton who, collectively, cut six divisions from the active duty Army. Transformation decisions being made now will have a major impact on the military forces of 2015 and 2025. The real issue is whether our political leaders--from both parties--are willing to stay the course.
5 comments:
These guys are one step above the msm, what I mean they have enough knowledge to be dangerous. But their statement are way off at best.
The war on terrorism is not a war that has a starting and ending as we have known wars in the past. Just as crime will always have to be dealt with on a daily basis. The MSM is stupid or just dumb or maybe both. The problem with the MSM types they are mostly upper class white elites that have only watched war on cnn and they think that makes them an expert plus their hate for BUSH every work or action is molded to defeat bush, because they care more about defeating him than their country. Thats right they want to see BUSH defeated and even if their country goes down the drain thats fine too.
The war on terror is going to be lost or won troops on the ground using technology along with actionable intel being acted on at the blink of an eye. To understand the war on terror you have understand the enemy. The middle easterns and afghanis operate in different galaxy than westerns, MSM does not take this into account because it does not fit their mission statement.
The War ON Terror will never end, it will have to be fought where every it shows its ugly head. This why The Clinton admin. just looked the other way because this the most difficult task in the history of mankind and only one men has stepped forward to do so an his name is G W BUSH.
JW
I have "Inside the Pentagon" emailed to me each week. I have been trying to keep up with the budget requests, additional requests, denied requestes, changed requests...etc..until I just gave up. I doubt any service knows exactly what is going on at any one time. Even the GAO seems at a loss keeping up with everything.
It's just one big ball of money, flying around and everybody trying to grab what they can until it comes around again.
The AF is leading pack with the money spent on its fighters, expecially the F35, but they can't seem to come up with a bomber package because they can't agree on it's specs and if it should be piloted or not.
The Navy is getting its lion's share too, carriers, subs, little shitty ships and even stuff that they won't need for years.
The Army is sucking hind tit (well one of the hind tits) as well as the Marines and the poor Coasties who can't even get used ships from the stingy U.S. Navy.
The Army has spent BILLIONs on its Land Warfare program over 12 years and has YET to get one asset out of the dozens that are under development STILL.
Wasted money? oh yea, over the years billions wasted on programs that didn't work out or were canceled for other reasons.
Like the IED jammers that not only jam the IEDS but every radio for miles.
Like the Styrkers that the Army still has to pay mfg. tecks (mechanics) over $200,000.00 dollars EACH, per year to keep them running, and there are dozens of them. Why, because the Army can't come up with troops with the right qualifications and keep them along with the maint. packages that they would need.
I could go on, but it doesn't prove anything except that China is getting rich off of us borrowing all these billions from them.
I would just like to see the Marines and the Soldiers get one thing in the next year.
An Individual Infantryman's rifle that fires a larger caliber round than the 5.56 and that will operate reliably in any conditions.
Other Armys have outstanding weapons for their troops, why is it that we can't?
One word. Politics.
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
Nice to see someone finally talk about the fact that the USAF has a mission other than being the Army's bombing and cargo delivery service.
To answer your question though, the short answer is no. Right now both the White House and Congress are controlled by the party that is nominally military friendly, spending wise. And we still have to fight tooth and nail to get our 50 year old tankers and bombers replaced, to say nothing about the fact that China is very very close to achieving parity in the A2A arena against our Eagles and Falcons.
If GOP remains in control, expect current funding levels to stay; i.e., barely sufficient for gearing to fight a counter-insurgency, sadly lacking for retaining our conventional warfare capability. If the Dems gain power, expect there to be further cuts to the point where we can't even sustain counter-insurgency tech, much less conventional warfare.
Everyone needs to read this piece about one area in Iraq that has been in the news almost daily:
In a Volatile Region of Iraq, U.S. Military Takes Two Paths
I drink coffee every weekend with a retired Special Forces guy (along with a bunch of other mixed service vets)
He states that even today, there is hard feelings between "regulars" and SO forces. He is talking mainly about the officer corp.
Read this article and remember that interservice problems can cause almost as much damage as the enemy.
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
86,
Some of the press is full of shit and I wonder just what the hell their motives are? Reporting in some of the media smecks of gross partisan politics, treason during war-time, or downright pay-off or corruption.
In the past week or so 5 Canadian soldiers were killed in action in the South of Afghan area as the new NATO team has stepped up
the offensive against mullah Omar and the Iranians and the taliban. These groups are also
being paid by drug-lords to protect and smuggle a bumper crop of opium this year.
WHAT PISSES ME OFF is that there is hardly any mention of the more than 200 enemy that has been killed during the same time as the 5 Canadian soldiers. This is just one of many examples of the press being irresponsible, and makes me consider finding out were these reporters and editors go for lunch, slap someone in the face and invite them outside to the parking lot. What a bunch of useless shites some of the media are!
What the enemy is doing ...
"This enemy has made its immediate strategy clear in public announcements and in captured documents: to undermine the Coalition effort in Iraq, drive our forces out, and then use that nation as a base from which to destabilize the surrounding nations. They seek to extend a hoped-for victory in Iraq to a broad part of the Middle East and even parts of Europe and Asia -- to restore an ancient caliphate."
[ ... ]
"All this while fighting a war in the media on a global stage. As I recently mentioned in remarks to the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, everyone is watching: the enemies, their supporters, their potential supporters, our allies and our potential allies. In this very public battle for hearts and minds, we must be as confident in the rightness of our cause as the enemy is in its evil purpose. We cannot allow the world to forget that America, though imperfect, is a force for good in the world."
The doctrine from the President clearly states that anyone who supports these extremists are equally guilty. Freedom of the press does not mean freedom to bullshit!
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