How is the US Army like Walmart & Home Depot?

[teryang]

It is war on the cheap with part time workers (reservists and guard) saving money and profits for the gold plated defense contractors:

http://www.counterpunch.org/hallinan11062003.html

Glitzy Weaponry Over People
Rumsfeld's New Model Army
By CONN HALLINAN

<...The US military looks increasingly like a temp agency on steroids: a massive organization of part-time workers armed with the latest in firepower.><snip>

<Since Sept. 11, 2001, some 292,000 National Guard and reserve troops have been called to active duty, and more than 190,000 are still serving. The Pentagon just announced a further call-up of 30,000. Reserve and National Guard units now make up 46 percent of the military><snip>

<The thinking behind all this is simple math: reserve and Guard troops are much cheaper than regular troops. As Christopher Caldwell at the Weekly Standard notes, "it is hard not see a similarity between the army's shift to part-time soldiering and businesses preferences for part-time vs full-time labor."><snip>

<Transformation" has essentially shifted much of the financial burden for maintaining permanent troops to the families of the reserves.><snip>

[JailBush]

1. I feel a sense of wicked glee as I await the day

our downsized military crumbles. It's only a matter of time before some key battle is lost or some horrible catastrophe befalls us because of our new Freeper Forces.

Treating U.S. troops like dogshit certainly won't promote high morale - especially among those who realize they're being exploited. Nor does privatization promote quality. We can look forward to mal-designed weapons or missing parts. And privatized troops who aren't in uniform won't feel motivated to risk their lives to support their comrades when under fire.

I hated the Navy, and I didn't see any combat. I can't imagine what it would be like to serve in Iraq under these corporate assh*les.