Recently the drum beat for a potential war with Iran is getting kindled by Bush and McCain (and Pat Buchanan does not help the situation). I've been wondering about this because no one in the MSM seems to want to ask this question:
"How exactly is the Army supposed to proceed in a potential McCain presidency given that the Army's numbers are stressed to a breaking point?"
There is only really one answer and Army Vice Chief of Staff General Richard Cody gave that question an answer at the beginning of April 2008:
Today’s Army is out of balance. The current demand for our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan exceeds the sustainable supply and limits our ability to provide ready forces for other contingencies . . . Current operational requirements for forces and insufficient time between deployments require a focus on counterinsurgency training and equipping to the detriment of preparedness for the full range of military missions.
Given the current theater demand for Army forces, we are unable to provide a sustainable tempo of deployments for our Soldiers and Families. Soldiers, Families, support systems, and equipment are stretched and stressed by the demands of lengthy and repeated deployments, with insufficient recovery time. Equipment used repeatedly in harsh environments is wearing out more rapidly than programmed. Army support systems, designed for the pre-9/11 peacetime Army, are straining under the accumulation of stress from six years at war. Overall, our readiness is being consumed as fast as we build it.
...
If unaddressed, this lack of balance poses a significant risk to the All-Volunteer Force and degrades the Army’s ability to make a timely response to other contingencies.
What are we supposed to make of this. Someone needs to ask McCain about his plan if the only way to succeed in Iraq and Afghanistan (and his posturing towards Iran) is to have a draft.
I want one of the Democratic Presidential Candidates to ask the following to John McCain:
"Under your plan of continuing both of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, how are you planning on keeping our military solvent without instituting a draft to alleviate the strain on the military?"
The "D-word" needs to be thrown onto the McCain campaign (and at the feet of war supporters in Congress, the Senate, and the media) because that is the only way they can keep up both our fight in Afghanistan and our occupation in Iraq.
I am not advocating a draft by any means, but McCain needs to be pressed on how he expects to keep the military from falling apart if we continue fighting on two fronts with an all-volunteer military.
By way of admission, I'm not under the threat of being drafted, but as a community college instructor I do not want want to see any more young folks killed in this conflict. Reading the "I got the news today" threads is enough to remind me of what we are sacrificing in Iraq and Afghanistan and I pray that fewer and fewer names are added to this list after the next President takes office.
Hattip to Crooksandliars since I pulled the quote from Here