By coincidence, there was a front page story in yesterday's WSJ about this very subject. It says Europe (and it suggests that Britain is not included in this analysis) has more men in uniform than the US, but they their troops more in pay and benefits, most troops are careerists rather than short-termers, and their troops are older (in Belgium, for example, the average age of a soldier is 40!), under-equipped, under-trained, and relatively unfit. One soldier said they view their mission as "peacekeeping," not fighting wars. The reason for this state of affairs? Europe's armed forces are unionized.
~Alypius
