Terror Guy Leaves Military in Tatters
25 November 2005 8:51 am by Taylor Marsh
Terror Guy Leaves Military in Tatters
Drawing lessons from his own career, Col. Mat Moten
tells his students at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., they
could one day have a duty just as important as fighting terrorism: helping
rebuild an Army fractured and exhausted by a long and unpopular war. For Moten,
it’s a familiar story, one he first heard as a West Point cadet in 1978. Then,
the all-volunteer Army was struggling after Vietnam. “It’s not a cheery
message,” Moten says. It’s a message also echoed last week by Rep. John
Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat and 37-year veteran of the Marine Corps, as
he called for troops to start leaving Iraq immediately.
Fixing and replacing Army equipment alone could run
from $60 billion to $100 billion, according to retired general Paul Kern,
a senior consultant to the Cohen Group and the just-retired head of Army Materiel
Command. The total cost for wear-and-tear on U.S. equipment is unclear because
it is not known how long American troops will be needed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said last week that the United
States went into Iraq with too few troops and doesn’t have sufficient forces
to maintain current levels. “We are grinding down our force structure
to the point where we have no force structure,” Hagel said. The Army
is keeping most of its soldiers from retiring or leaving for civilian jobs.
It has had to increase its bonuses to keep some highly skilled soldiers —
truck drivers, military police, bomb disposal troops — from leaving. The
war has made special operations troops so attractive to private contractors
that the Pentagon is offering unprecedented bonuses of up to $150,000 to keep
some enlisted commandos in the ranks.
It’s hypocrisy in its highest form. One of the things that burns
me about Bush and his bunch is that they preach one thing then do another. Isn’t
this the bunch that is supposed to be so pro marriage, even wanting to use our
tax dollars to encourage marriage among lower income Americans? Aren’t these
guys and gals the “family values” coalition? The ones all bent out
of shape about taking care of children first?
I guess that’s true, unless you happen to be a soldier. Army figures
show that divorce among officers has jumped 78% in 2004, which was reported
today in the USA Today article quoted above that also made it into the military
headlines culled from major newspapers. Enlisted soldiers divorced 28% more in 2004,
with the same levels in 2005. The only bright spot is that officer divorces
did fall back in 2005. Maybe the $150,000 bonuses helped keep families together
among officers. We don’t know, because the Pentagon isn’t keeping records that
help us discern where the bonuses are even going. Some are going to keep people
in jobs that are overfilled. It’s a mess.
Equipment is another place where we’ve destroyed our forces. Estimates
say it will take between $60 – $100 billion (that’s with a “b”) to
replace and replenish the equipment, but that could be low balling it, because
we don’t know how long we’re going to be in Afghanistan or Iraq.
There’s another equipment shortfall, too. The one here back at
home. The Guard has taken their military toys “over there” so we don’t
have what we need “over here.” Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, head of the National
Guard talked to USA Today for the above article, saying it’s one of the reasons
the Guard didn’t have what they needed to help in the aftermath of Katrina.
So, not only has Terror Guy proved pitifully inept fighting “over
there,” but in doing so, he’s not only made us less safe by exploding terrorism
in a country that never had it. But he’s also made us a pariah around the world,
while leaving us more vulnerable “over here.” That’s the new brand
of Republican “leadership” and we’re stuck with it for three more years. That’s how important 2006 will be for us all.
