. . . that our troops need to be rested and many need to be retrained in their long-unused primary MOSs (such as artillery), combat unit organization requires a hard look and much change, strategic options and imperatives need to be reevaluated, war-weary equipment needs to be reassessed and repaired or replaced, recruiting standards and practices need to be examined and ruthlessly brought back in line with the aspirations of the AVF, and on and on and on.

Well yes we are and Eric is absolutely right about the condition and needs of our
armed forces. Unfortunately that isn't going to matter a bit because the american people don't get to decide whether we go to war or not. That decision is made exclusively in DC and then the spin machine goes into high rev and congress salutes and writes checks- you know the usual arguements and propaganda bullet points for the right and left I won't bother repeating them. Obviously they are'nt going to send a large ground army into the ME in the next year- they don't need to( see Libya,Somalia,southern Philipines or Yemen.) There are very lethal US military assets that don't require that - which the contributors to this blog are more familiar than I am. Any one of these assets could be the ignition source for a larger conflict that would require us to "defend the homeland" ! Everybody would fall right into line and as usual our most dedicated citizens would get tossed into the meat grinder to the endearing chants of " you signed a contract".
Yeah we're sick and tired of this but we are'nt ready to take this system down and pay the price for that so the Cabaret of Death will continue to dance on.

I don't think I ever got that sense from hearing our countrymen talk, but then again I was living under a rock until last year when I finally started to take an interest in politics and issues of global security again. When I read about Libya I was more struck by a kind of bitter amusement about countries that had taken the whole idea of the peace dividend a bit too much to heart.

Sorry I had to comment on the picture. We are all still living in igloos up here - lol. Our life quotes are all about how cold it is.

I'm just kidding, but I thought this was a funny picture to choose!

if you are a Jimmy Carter type it means being nice and saying don't do bad things or we will not send you 3 million dollars this year only 2,750,000 if you are a Reagan type it means standing on your own two feet and let people know you mean business.

"Is rio orange war always comparateur forfait mobile inevitable ?"
MaximB

Unfortunately that isn't going to matter a bit because the american people don't get to decide whether we go to war or not. That decision is made exclusively in DC and then the spin machine goes into high rev and congress salutes and writes checks- you know the usual arguements and propaganda bullet points for the right and left I won't bother repeating them. Obviously they helpwithbaby are'nt going to send a large ground army into the ME in the next year- they don't need to( see Libya,Somalia,southern Philipines or Yemen.)