Backtalk: A million boots on the ground

[unhappycamper]

A million boots on the ground
By Gordon R. Sullivan

As we continue to learn from Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, the southern borders of the U.S., peacekeeping operations and the expanding commitment of U.S. land forces to capacity-building tasks around the world, the sine qua non in the defense of our vital interests around the world is our ability to control land and influence people.

In such an environment, it becomes self-evident that land forces — the Army, the Marines and special operations forces — constitute the central military arm of an effective national security strategy.

It is equally obvious that our land forces are far too small to contend with the increasingly wide spectrum of missions and tasks that our nation is demanding of them.

The manifest inadequacy of the size of our land forces is most obvious in Iraq. Although the surge is paying dividends in reducing violence and setting conditions for long-term political stability, we may be compelled to reduce the size of our forces in Iraq in the near future — not because of policy decisions or progress, but because we do not have the wherewithal to sustain the commitment at surge levels indefinitely without significant troop hardship and long-term readiness implications.

Moreover, the U.S. is not positioned to respond to threats to vital national interests elsewhere or to advance U.S. objectives around the world.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/community/opinion/army_backtalk_landforces_080218/