A Larger Military
We don’t have enough troops for the wars being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is considering permanently increasing the size of the Army and Marine Corps.
In the last five years, 25,000 soldiers have been added, but commanders want to add as many as 50,000 more troops. Army Chief of Staff, General Peter Schoomacker reports: “Optimistically, we could add 6 to 7,000 soldiers per year, but then they must be trained.”
There's 10 to 12 weeks in boot camp, followed by 12 weeks of specialized training in whatever weapons capability one is going to become an expert in. It will cost $13,000 to recruit a single soldier and $1.2 billion a year to pay for salaries and training for every 10,000 troops. It’s impossible to predict what the new tanks, helicopters and humvees might cost.
Apparently, the Bush administration's new policy is to support a larger Army and Marine Corps. Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resisted all appeals to increase the size of our military for the past six years. Perhaps, Bush and Rumsfeld resisted increases in the military because it would have signaled that we weren't doing as well as they had claimed we were doing. Rumsfeld thought that the mission could be accomplished with a smaller, leaner Army, and a smaller, more high-tech Marine Corps.
Some in Congress felt that our over stretched Army and Marines were given a mission, which wasn’t achievable. Democrats in Congress made an effort in recent years to increase the size of our military, but were stonewalled by the Bush regime.
The incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan says that it will not be cheap, but it's needed. Levin believes the most important thing we can do is to move our forces out of Iraq, which will help reduce some of the pressure on our military.
In the last five years, 25,000 soldiers have been added, but commanders want to add as many as 50,000 more troops. Army Chief of Staff, General Peter Schoomacker reports: “Optimistically, we could add 6 to 7,000 soldiers per year, but then they must be trained.”
There's 10 to 12 weeks in boot camp, followed by 12 weeks of specialized training in whatever weapons capability one is going to become an expert in. It will cost $13,000 to recruit a single soldier and $1.2 billion a year to pay for salaries and training for every 10,000 troops. It’s impossible to predict what the new tanks, helicopters and humvees might cost.
Apparently, the Bush administration's new policy is to support a larger Army and Marine Corps. Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resisted all appeals to increase the size of our military for the past six years. Perhaps, Bush and Rumsfeld resisted increases in the military because it would have signaled that we weren't doing as well as they had claimed we were doing. Rumsfeld thought that the mission could be accomplished with a smaller, leaner Army, and a smaller, more high-tech Marine Corps.
Some in Congress felt that our over stretched Army and Marines were given a mission, which wasn’t achievable. Democrats in Congress made an effort in recent years to increase the size of our military, but were stonewalled by the Bush regime.
The incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan says that it will not be cheap, but it's needed. Levin believes the most important thing we can do is to move our forces out of Iraq, which will help reduce some of the pressure on our military.
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