--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], David Hobby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Damon Agretto wrote: > ... > > Korea. When the US government has to start tapping > > guard assets in order to relieve regular army units, > > then I think we have a manpower problem. I've stated > > before that we DO need more troops, and I opposed the > > deep cuts the Clinton administration forced on the > > Armed Forces from the beginning. Simply put, the > > Clinton administration cut so deep that the Army of > > today is unable to fulfil the objective the Clinton > > administration set for it: to deal with two crises at > > once. > > My own cynical theory is that they want to put the guard > to work in order to get more out of the poor saps who enlisted > in it thinking they wouldn't be sent overseas. In the long run, > I imagine that this will be a strong disincentive to joining > the National Guard.
In fact it has the gaurd is now desperate. The gaurd is ment to protect the our nation while the regular army is away. > It may not be completely fair to call the Occupation of > Iraq a "crisis", since it was brought on by America's own actions. > It recalls that old quote: "Lack of planning on your part does > not constitute an emergency on our part." > But yes, the US military has a manpower problem. I think it comes down to a question of economics. There are many who would williningly join the gaurd if it would not backrupt them. The Army is getting fewer and fewer intelegent volunteres. Why? becouse those people can make much more money doing somehting else. Not only that, but the guy (gal) who would join the gaurd while working and give 1 month a year to public service (and ern a tiny bit extra) now is looking at erning 1 or 2 orders of magnitude less, and being away from his family for who knows how long. We use to get fresh recruits strait out of highschool. It was atractive becouse it was an opertunity to move up in the world. Now it is an opertunity to move down. More and more people are able to go to college without the gaurd. The gaurd was never a ticket anyway, only assistence. To get new reqruits, the Army needs money (IMO) so they can offer full tuition, a decent salary, support for families left behind during deployment. Better rotations (6 month), more training centers so solders can go home at night to be with their families. You can't ask someone to volunteer when it means selling their home, having their family move in with parents, being gone indefinatly, and haveing to start from nothing when it's all over...if it is ever over. You want good volunteers, you have to give them something for it. Does the average american care about the plight of Iraqi's? ...I am sorry to say, I don't think so. As long as they are not crashing our planes into our buildings, we don't care. The average american would prefer that we just round up all the middle easterners and send them back ,and never let any more in, and be done with it. And if they do gain WMDs then Nuke them. (not my opinion mind you!!!, but when that is the consensous, you really can't ask people to commit to the military life when there are more lucritive options.) _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
