Foreign Policy
National Security
-
Leadership
A Silver Bullet to Solve Sexual Assaults
-
War Dogs
Postcard from Bagram
-
Obama
The Neo-Nixonian Presidency
Posted By Thomas E. Ricks
Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - 6:05 AM
Share
Walter Pincus of the Washington Post, a veteran of Army counterintelligence, is one of the outstanding journalists of our time, but his latest crusade against military bands seems to me to be off target. Yes, spending $4 million on a band facility for a unit with just 5,500 troops (the Army Materiel Command) is wrong. But that money is so small compared to the waste of things like rank inflation (that is, generals doing things that lieutenant colonels used to do). Or maybe the whole ballistic missile defense program, which strikes me as the coastal artillery of our time.
But mainly, don't look at weapons and front-line units, look at the bloated support structure, and all the spending on defense contracting that goes to double-dipping retired generals and colonels. I also suspect that in the swamp of the national security establishment, one of the wettest places is intelligence, especially the production of data and analysis that really is publicly available. A former CIA director once told me that the biggest surprise to him in the job was that the agency really wasn't ahead of the newspapers much. I think there are billions of dollars sloshing around Northern Virginia there. Just go have a drink in the bar at the Tysons Corner Ritz Carlton sometime. I suspect the taxpayer is picking up the tab for most of those martinis being sipped by former CIA station chiefs.
The Army Material Command has a band? Damn, who would have thunk it, and its outgoing director says their new headquarters will show the way ahead.
Hold on SecDef Gates, there might be something to this: Sun Tzu reminds us, “Drums, gongs, flags, and pennants are used to unite men's eyes and ears.
Who said Rangers lead the way?
* * * ballistic missile defense program = the coastal artillery of our time.
But more expensive
And capable of annihilating cities, ending civilization
The I in ICBM stands for intercontinental, giving them the similar offensive capability as strategic bombers, with the added possibility of initiating simultaneous surprise attack over an enemy's entire country and military AO.
There is a lively conversation re Obama picking up Reagan's radical project of further stepback from nukes- especially N-weapons set for a short launch to amegeddon. Many of those are in the hands of foreign powers, some in strategic coastal batteries, as it happens. That shouldn't be treated in off-hand and inaccurate similes.
I'm no fan of the thousands of very real nuclear bomb demonstrations that doubled global background radiation and put Strontium in the milk. But the centuries of strategic conventional war killed a hundred million, and the motivations and social structures of Dad's era don't seem to be entirely behind us.
Coastal anti-ship batteries, whether conventional missile or tube art'y, are inherently defensive, and therefore not destabilizing. Unless you are Taiwanese, or committed to an open-ended right to threaten or attack Iran. But that's a different topic.
WW writes: “Coastal anti-ship batteries, whether conventional missile or tube art'y, are inherently defensive, and therefore not destabilizing.”
I am inclined to agree with most of your points but it must be understood that all defensive weapons are capable of enhancing the power of attack. During the war in the desert the Germans used defensive anti-tank weapons ‘offensively’ by feigning Panzer attacks then retreating back through the anti-tank gun screen so that those guns could destroy on coming British tanks. During the Reagan era the Russians obviously realized that ‘defensive’ Star Wars anti-ballistic missile schemes had the capacity to ‘defend’ an offensive ballistic missile capacity thus was completely destabilizing. Defensive Chinese coastal anti-ship missile batteries can be used in conjunction with more blatantly offensive weapons (air launched cruise missiles?) in order to enhance their offensive tactical options and performance. Basically, weapons are just weapons and are neither offensive nor defensive it just depends on how those weapons are used.
I think Tom Ricks' point was...
...that like coastal artillery, ballistic missile defense is a significant waste of money.
The respective reasons for that -- coastal artillery defended effectively against a threat unlikely to materialize, missile defense is unlikely to be effective -- are different. But honestly -- we've spent $10-odd billion a year on ballistic missile defense for the last decade, billions more before that. By this time, we ought to be able say something better than that it might work someday.
ZATHRAS, I quite agree with your well-put points. My only observation is that ‘defensive’ weapons whether ‘tactical’ such as the way the Wehrmacht used antitank guns in WW2 or ‘strategic’ systems such as the ‘Star Wars’ wet dream of Reagan can be used to enhance offensive capability. The Romans realized that the rectangular shield (scutum) was in fact more than merely a defensive device in the manner they used them but were also an offensive device when matched with other weapons.
The GAO says GIs cost $130,000 a year each, so a group of 50 guys clowning around with music each year is the best example of waste. I see Mr. Ricks uses the famous DC spin, it wasteful, but lets not discuss this, lets talk about waste somewhere else.
Examples, why does the Air National Guard have 13 bands? Why is the only unit in the Marine Corps 4th Division (reserve) manned with 50 active duty Marine bandsmen. Why do some bands in the DC area work only three days a week for four hours each day? Why does each service academy have a band with full-time enlisted men?
The ethics of spending that undermines national security..
....Mullen is starting to raise an issue about a culture that does it. See today's Financial Times...good medium for those who think and understand that the real enemy is in the bank counting its gold well secured by those at home and abroad.
As Starbuck pointed out on his blog recently, the bands are equivalent in numbers to a full brigade. Could the Army use another brigade in the rotation? Absolutely. And Tom's right to point out this is a drop in the bucket. But if the Army can't refocus it's resources on a small issue like this, how can they do the big potatoes? Do they need a BRAC for force structure?
I like the band community's ingenuity is trying to stay relavent but we no longer have theater troops doing things like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winged_Victory_(play) . If Joe wants Hamlet, we don't fly in a troupe. He just fires it up on his iPod. Same for music. Joe wants his Metallica or Jay Z or Lady Gaga, not a Glenn Miller knockoff. Do we really have the excess transport capacity to ferry around a jazz ensemble on the battlefield?
Maybe that general's change of command ceremony can use a band from the post middle school or canned music for the parade review. Over loudspeakers it's hard to tell the difference after all.
Next stop -- the Army's World Class Athlete Program!
I pondered that idea too. Local colleges and high schools would love to perform at military ceremonies. The base could provide them with free meals, transport, and even a small fee. Good for local relations at the cost of less than 1% of today. We can still keep some bands, but cut out 90% of them. As others point out, GIs have iPods and laptops for fun, and very few will rush down to see the band perform.
When bandsters show up in the field to do "their duty" it angers combat troops who see these guys fly in, toot their horn, and move on while collecting the same pay and benefits. Its the Generals who fight to retain them, since a private band is considered a perk.
...and not to be pedantic, but isn't "shooting minnows in a very big barrel" a very strange, and strained, metaphor?
Just kidding about the lawyers thing.
I say cull the general ranks by half, then transform all those aggregate dollars into another BDE or two, then do the same with the Bands to make one more BDE.
I love me a good band, and a rousing parade, but it just seems superfuluous at this point. If we must, create a small drum and bugle corps (6-10 pax each) regionally maintained for Division changes of command and whatnot. USMA gets to keep their band too - because none of the other Academies know how to march anyway.
The GAO just put out a report saying the Army plan to keep two combat brigades in Europe, rather than shift them to the USA as planned (leaving two brigades there) will costs billions of dollars because the facilities in Germany must be rebuilt.
I am glad a USAF General has broke ranks and opened the base closing can of worms. The first to go should be our airbase at Lakenheath in England. It has no value at all.
http://www.g2mil.com/lakenheath.htm
Just to clarify, the Army Materiel Command is one of three 4-star Army Major Commands and is one of the largest commands in the Army. The AMC Band proudly represents the 67,000 men and women of AMC. And for those who need a history lesson, remember that as long as there’s been an Army, there’ve been Army bands and they have and continue to play a vital role in the military. Today bands entertain at official functions and ceremonies, entertain troops, and travel throughout the world aiding public relations inside and outside of the United States. They boost the morale not only for our troops and their families, but for the American people who consistently rank the military as one of the most trusted institutions in the U.S.
It is a shame that Mr. Pincus didn't bother to contactact anyone at AMC prior to his article, but instead relied only on surfing the web and obtaining quotes from an unnamed DoD offical who, according to Pincus, is "not authrozied" to speak on such subjects....and obviously too much of a coward to be quoted by name. .hummmmm....
Acurate and complete reporting -- I don't think so. Agenda -- yes!
In 17 years of service, 22 years including school, and 40+ years as a Brat I don't think a Band has ever elevated my morale. I'm no curmudgeon, but those Bands like to hang out at HQ...not the frontlines I frequent. Oh they do make an awful racket at the Armory I most often use too.
Having said that they are good for a mean drumbeat to march to. Lots of parade time taught me that, which is why I conceded a 6-10 man drum and bugle team could service a region quite capably. But then again a stereo with some decent speakers could do that too.
No one without a star should rate a pass in review, should make scheduling those big P-rades easy.
I see the band mafia has arrived, correcting all us fools.
Band mafia -- not quite. I can't blow a horn or keep time on a drum. Just a 40+ year old Army brat; wife of an Army retiree w/ 21 years service; and myself an Army civilan with amost 20 years service. Have you ever attended a military band concert? Or been at a funeral when taps was played? If doing so doesn't elevate your morale or make you feel like a patriot then I feel quite sorry for you.
Read More
May/June 2013
-
Profile
-
FP Power Map
-
Think Again
Follow us on Twitter | Visit us on Facebook | Follow us on RSS | Subscribe to Foreign Policy
About FP | Meet the Staff | Foreign Editions | Reprint Permissions | Advertising | Writers’ Guidelines | Press Room | Work at FP
Services:Subscription Services | Academic Program | FP Archive | Reprint Permissions | FP Reports and Merchandise | Special Reports | Buy Back Issues
Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | Contact Us
11 DUPONT CIRCLE NW, SUITE 600 | WASHINGTON, DC 20036 | Phone: 202-728-7300 | Fax: 202-728-7342
FOREIGN POLICY is published by the FP Group, a division of The Washington Post Company
All contents ©2013 The Foreign Policy Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
(17)
HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE