How powerful is the U.S. military? Are they underestimated?

SiberianTiger I think your confused Its Russia which has had its last option (nuclear weapons) become its first in case of war with the US.

Either way if nukes fly between Russia and the US everyone is going to be a loser. So if Russia has a plan to get into a nuclear war with the US over some oil it was to be the stupidest tactic in recorded history.

Oil dont really mean much when the cities of both countries are turned to dust.

[edit on 16-2-2005 by ShadowXIX]

Russia's economy is #. They can't even stop terrorists in their own country (chechnya anyone?) and furthermore this isnt the cold war anymore. I cant see Russia being a problem. Also, Russia has an interest in stop terrorist proliferation.

I meant to say Russia's economy is crap. They don't have the funds to fight the U.S. The Cold war is over.

Russia don't need nukes man U.S. only has 650,000 active duty troops and 200,000 reservist, Russia has 988,100 actve duty troops and 20 Million reservists, so if U.S. ain't gonna have a draft right now 2005 you can't defeat us conventionally.

Ahhhh, so im speaking to a russian huh? Look I think the point im trying to make regarding russia is that the Middle east is a thorn in your side as much as ours. You benefit form a stable middle east as much as we do.

Hi justinxc, don't hang around here too long. It tends to be addictive and ruins the eyesight spending hours at a time reading threads

In the opening post you wrote "Just how powerful is the U.S. military? Can we reallly defend ourselves against all the threats arising??"
Defence is one thing and yes, the US is most likely able to defend itself if under attack. However, overstretching resources in foreign engagements is quite a different matter entirely, as is being shown in Iraq. All the advanced airpower is well and good but you still have to deploy ground forces and that's where things tend to get bogged down. The more wars you engage in overseas, the less effective the military machine becomes as troop rotations are lengthened and fatigue sets in. The supply lines become stretched and add to the already deteriorating conditions for the ground troops.
Also, the troops might feel better about defending their own soil rather than being half a world away wondering what they are there for.
So, maybe it's not so much a case of people underestimating the US forces but more a case of the US government overestimating their capabilities in running multiple concurrent conflicts.

And again my point to this discussion is........

If russia can beat us, syria can beat us, and Iran can beat us, why would we pick a fight?

Is it because we know we can win or stupidity?

Originally posted by SiberianTiger
Russia don't need nukes man U.S. only has 650,000 active duty troops and 200,000 reservist, Russia has 988,100 actve duty troops and 20 Million reservists, so if U.S. ain't gonna have a draft right now 2005 you can't defeat us conventionally.

Yeah they dont need nukes you realize that Russia aint a Super Power any more right.

You see in a convential war with US and Russia active army numbers dont mean squat. Its all about the numbers you can draft and the amount you can afford to equip and train.

With a Draft which we can have any time we need the US has 60 million reservist so Russia's 20 million aint all that impressive.

Russia population- about 150 million USA- about 300million

Now who really has more troops if need and more money to equip them?

ONE thing YOU better relize is US population would oppose any more war in middle east, half of U.S. will believe U.S. secretly instigated the war, hahahahaBecause jews using U.S. military to take over middle easter oil don't think Russia ca stop U.S. geocities.com... geocities.com... geocities.com... homepage.ntlworld.com...

[edit on 16-2-2005 by SiberianTiger]

Greater Israel. Please.....

Do you REALLY believe that? Or are you being weird.

the one thing no one is talking about is "do we have the money?" we might be able to take iran but if NK attacks we are screwed because we no longer have the money to fight NK and there one million man army

Originally posted by SiberianTiger
ONE thing YOU better relize is US population would oppose any more war in middle east, half of U.S. will believe U.S. secretly instigated the war, hahahahaBecause jews using U.S. military to take over middle easter oil don't think Russia ca stop U.S. geocities.com... geocities.com... geocities.com... homepage.ntlworld.com...

[edit on 16-2-2005 by SiberianTiger]

Two Geocities sites as proof Give me a half a hour and Ill make some up too.

And were did all this jew stuff come from??

Originally posted by itlnlovr5
the one thing no one is talking about is "do we have the money?" we might be able to take iran but if NK attacks we are screwed because we no longer have the money to fight NK and there one million man army

I would admit that it would be quite a feat for the US to hold 3 wars at once. However we are one of the only nations on earth that could do so. 12 Navy fleets can deploy to just about anywhere in the world. Insergency after the wars are the biggest problem. However the initial conventional wars would end up with simular results as Iraq. On another note: Here is a little link on the US military might from 2003
observer.guardian.co.uk...

Cool article Carburetor. That's the kind of feedback im looking for. I dont fully understand the U.S. military's capabilities, and am wondering how they can justify their actions (giving orders to other countries etc.), that article opened my eyes alot. Didnt know we had presence in manyl post soviet union countries. Thanks!

And were did all this jew stuff come from??

Are you serious? It came from the empowerment the Europeans and Americans gave to the Israeli nation in the 1940's. I have Jewish friends and all, but seriously, they are a foreign race in a foreign region. In addition they just happen to be an overbearing and aggressive people.

Who gave the decision makers at the end of WWII the right to make any judgements about who, what, when and where. They threw the science of physiognomy right out the window and instead decided to mesh the unmeshable. Completely absurd.

Originally posted by justinxc
Cool article Carburetor. That's the kind of feedback im looking for. I dont fully understand the U.S. military's capabilities, and am wondering how they can justify their actions (giving orders to other countries etc.), that article opened my eyes alot. Didnt know we had presence in manyl post soviet union countries. Thanks!

No problem man!!.... as far as giving orders to other countries is concerned. I don't believe that the administration makes correct decisions 100% of the time, however i kind of view the nations in the world like a roommate situation. Terrorism in the middle east has been occuring decade after decade while other nations have sit around and bickered about what to do with these terrorist regimes while many more innocent people die. The US and its allies are simply the roommates that stepped up to finally adress the issue. In my opinion those that aren't pitching in, are being lazy roommates and see it as a nasty chore that needs to be done, but won't help out. I made this point in another post, but its like cleaning the gutters. No one wants to do the nasty job, but eventually someone has to step up and take care of the problem.

I agree man. When you think about how much sooner this whole terrorism problem could be solved if everyone just piched in it makes me sad. Other countries just like to watch us suffer, and many have shown their true colors as a result of this. Like I said earlier, everyone has a vested interest in quelling terroroism.

it still doesn't answer the question Carburetor. we do have a lot of military power i mean the marine corp alone could take out iran (oor-rah) if and only if we had the money to do so. but you have to think about how much money its going to cost us to fight 3 countries and help iraq.

[edit on 16-2-2005 by itlnlovr5]

Originally posted by h4n1144

Are you serious? It came from the empowerment the Europeans and Americans gave to the Israeli nation in the 1940's. I have Jewish friends and all, but seriously, they are a foreign race in a foreign region. In addition they just happen to be an overbearing and aggressive people.

Who gave the decision makers at the end of WWII the right to make any judgements about who, what, when and where. They threw the science of physiognomy right out the window and instead decided to mesh the unmeshable. Completely absurd.

Oh so you agree with SiberianTiger's statement that jews are controling the US military. That was what I was talking about not anything about the origins of Israel.

Who gave them the right? well the U.N ofcourse thats were it was decided. Personally I think the new Jewish state should have been the best part of Germany.

Originally posted by itlnlovr5
it still doesn't answer the question Carburetor. we do have a lot of military power i mean the marine corp alone could take out iran

(oor-rah) if and only if we had the money to do so. but you have to think about how much money its going to cost us to fight 3 countries and help iraq.
[edit on 16-2-2005 by itlnlovr5]

Your point is well taken. I don't think anyone at this point knows for sure how devistating the financial effects would be. The US debt would continue to rise for sure. However the US economy is made for making money. It depends on how we handle the situation and how quick. With some good economic policies in place at home, the US could quickly recover.
Im not an economist, but we have seen these kind of situations in the past with a lagging economy that eventually booms after a war. The sooner the US gets in and gets out and gets back to concentrating its efforts at home, the sooner i bet these debts could be substantially shrunk.