According to RAND, a global research organization, the United States repeatedly loses in simulations of World War 3. -- American Military News
The next war will be an economic war not of bullets. The only way a country could defeat the US is to disarm it which the Democrats are trying hard to do. If you remember the war in Iraq the new was saying that our helicopter could not function well there and a lot were not working, the tanks could not function in the desert, and so on. Iraq has the 4th largest army. All of that meant nothing you don’t fight a battle with statics.
Yeah, I have real concern for the state of our military, @Ken Anderson. It is small, stressed, and exhausted from 18+ years of deployment, and what concerns me most is the short-sightedness of the military leaders and the social experiment the U.S. military has become. I think many of the weapons choices have been poor, and the priorities flawed. I am no military expert, but I try to watch the way things go there, and we have big troubles on the horizon.
@Don Alaska I agree with all your statements, especially the part about being stressed out from deployments. When I retired in 94, we were on a 6 months on again, off again rotation. This was not counting if things like Desert Storm, etc. happened, then the whole unit might deploy for how ever long it took. During my posting to the UK, I was deployed a total of just over 1/2 of my 4 year tour. That goes with the Unit I was in; it was all we were trained to do, Rapid Response. Seems to be getting worse. Soldiers I have talked to at Ft. Campbell that is the number one problem, the stress on them and their families from multiple deployments.
Most Americans will willingly come together to face an actual enemy but our recent wars, from Vietnam on, if not before that, have not been about defending our country, and often don't even seem to be in the best interests of our country.
It sounds like you are agreeing with me, not disagreeing, @Tim Burr. The stress, not only on the deployed troops but also on their families, is what I was talking about. Much of the exhaustion I referenced is also due to trying to fulfill family obligations on top of the deployments. Also, much of the stressful deployments are questionable from a strategic standpoint. @Ken Anderson summed it up above.
@Don Alaska I guess I didn't word that correctly. I did agree with what you posted about stress. As far as the other parts about 'deployments are questionable from a strategic standpoint' and Ken's statement " and often don't even seem to be in the best interest of our country", I do disagree with those statements.