An earlier diary by Skulnick covered this in more details, but I'll touch on it again before delivering my report after a trip to Free Republicville.
From The Airforce Times
Strained by the demands of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is a significant risk that the U.S. military won’t be able to quickly and fully respond to yet another crisis, according to a new report to Congress.
The assessment, done by the nation's top military officer, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, represents a worsening from a year ago, when that risk was rated as moderate.
Over on FR, and it was the started with the usual comments, but after a few posts it took a turn for the sane...
Here's the Thread, and here's some highlights.
It started with the usual denial routine. We'll open with 'It's classified', throw in 'we shouldn't be talking about this', and a little 'media Bias'
"The report is classified, but on Monday senior defense officials, speaking on condition on anonymity, confirmed the decline in overall military readiness.
I'd like to know who these m-fers are. We used to put people in Leavenworth for leaking classified information.
The media propping up Murtha.
But then something odd happened.
At least he has the courage to address this issue since no one in Congress seems to give a 'rat's ass. Sometimes the truth hurts. We need more people. We need more funding to strengthen our military.They cannot keep recycling these same people over and over again and expect no wear and tear. For goodness sake, they are recalling people in the IRR who left active duty in 1998. I should also mention that I completely understand the balance here when trying to report the truth so Congress and the President can allocate the resources to strengthen our military vice reporting of the truth by contortionist 'rats so as to demoralize the military for their own political agendas.
If this is true, it is the fault of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gen. Myers, etc.
Sorry, but there is simply no other answer. They proposed the budgets, which were passed by Congress while under Republican majority control.
What the hell ? I check the URL, yes, I'm still in Freeper Territory....
At least he has the courage to address this issue since no one in Congress seems to give a 'rat's ass
Why should Congress care? Most people on FR don't give a rat's ass either. They dismiss all the reports of military readiness problems as media spin.
Their idea of supporting the troops is to shout down any bad news and then slap each other on the back for being patriotic.
Huh ?
A few posts later it's back to normal with a return to "it's Clinton's Fault"
My guess is the Clinton peace dividend wasn't such a good idea after all. We need more soldiers.
But even this didn't go over
If only we had a Republican in office for the last two terms. Maybe one with a massive national security crisis early on in his term, that would help justify a larger military to those who otherwise might not realize we need one. Why, we could have undone Clinton's damage in a few years, and be back up to a Reagan sized military by now.
And let's not forget the army is now accepting recruits with criminal records...FELONIES.
But we needed to spend that money on the Pill Bill and the Departments of Labor and Education and NCLB and the National Endowment for the Arts and huge ag subsidies.
Fine to blame Xlinton for gutting the military for his mythical peace dividend. But by the 2002 budget for FY 2003, the responsibility was all on the GOP, especially with a GOP majority in Congress who clearly had no fear of spending wildly.
Ok, we'll try "It's AP Hates America"
LOL! What planet are you from? You actually think the AP wants Bush to succeed in Iraq. After all do they not say we support the troops and the mission. The AP loves to pretend their neutral when they are invested in our defeat. Because they know if we succeed, then that will make Bush look good, and they do not want Bush to look.
Even this one failed
Complete and utter nonsense. Any large organization has problems, but AP does it's best. It's a free press and a free country. I'll take my news stories as raw as I can get 'em, and then I'll sort 'em out. Just like anyone with half a brain or more should be doing. You don't like what AP does, don't read a word of them.
This story is gaining traction. Military Readiness is a key measurement of the health of the Armed Forces. For it to be dropping while money is being thrown around in C-130 fulls is raising concerns, and you know have people beginning to ask pointed questions in forums that up to now have been in lockstep.
I'll close this quotefest with this comment :
It's a sort of collective denial. I know for a fact we have fields full of broken trucks, tanks, and helicopters that will take years to fix. If it was a Dem. President, Conservatives would have 24 hour shifts protesting and rightly so. Equipment readiness is a BIG DEAL that's getting almost no play.
(my emphasis)