If you think America can cope with another war, read this and weep, page 1

Let's look at this from a slightly more balanced perspective than can be offered by the authors of that report: every one of whom served the Clinton Administration or worked on the Kerry campaign as far as I can tell.

For this purpose, I will not be indulging in dramatic speculations of what recruiting numbers may or may not do in the next few years, unlike the writers of that report.

I will also not be using ambiguous phrasings that technically tell the truth while implying dramatic lies. For example I will not say "Every Combat Unit in the Marine Corps has been deployed", if I feel that such phrasing may indicate that they are all over there at once and we have no more to send; instead I will indicate the present situation as clearly as possible.

So here we go:
1. Can America handle another war?
That depends on the size, location, and cause of the war.

Iran
There is very little likelihood that Iran could successfully launch an a major incursion into Iraq against us, and we probably could pull off limited operations inside of Iran. We would not be financially or strategically wise to invade, much less try an occupation, but that is not immediately necessary in any forseeable scenario.

Most other potential conflicts are not significantly affected by the deployment in Iraq because they are not managable by conventional force, at least not in any respect that is diminished by our deployment in Iraq.

We were never in any position to fight over Taiwan or South Korea in a conventional war anyway because of the potential nuclear and economic consequences. If there were a revolution in Pakistan our Navy is still in fine shape to eliminate their nukes if necessary. Russia isn't in a position to attack anything worth defending. Israel can take care of itself and we have no business defending them in most cases anyway, so anything that may happen via Syria or Hamas isn't our problem.

2. Is the volunteer military in grave danger?
In the next 2-5 years, if troop levels in Iraq don't come down with no adjustments or additional enlistment incentives? Yes.
In the next 1-2 years, if our political leaders start pulling troops out for the elections and authorizing new incentives as necessary? No, we'll be stressed, but we'll be OK.

3. Is Iraq winnable?
News flash, we already won. We won a couple of years ago. Granted that if we leave things in that country could get uglier and the oil flow could either be interrupted or simply directed away from us, but any potential that Iraq had to become an threat in the future is gone for years to come.

4. Is the War on Terror winnable?
Depends what you consider winning. How do you win? Have all the Muslims gotta be dead? Have we gotta conquer the whole Middle East? No, we can't win if that's what people consider winning.
Kill Osama? Maybe doable, maybe not, although I don't see what that does to magically "win".
Severely damage the abilities of Al Qaida and prevent them from hitting us again? Gee, I'd say we're doing pretty dang good at that, and I believe we can continue to do that indefinitely without having to sustain the pattern of invasions and occupations that we began with.

5. Is DaFunk right about hawks?
I earned my Eagle Globe and Anchor. Where's yours?

I believe in fighting our enemies when necessary, I was for the war when it started, I feel like it was mishandled, I feel like it needs to be fixed and then ended as soon as possible, and after that I believe we need to remain willing to defend ourselves rather than getting scared and giving up on that option no matter what may happen in the future, as some doves might prefer.

Let's get something straight about what a nation is. A nation is a common effort for the things a group of people cannot accomplish as individuals, and this includes defense against potential threats abroad. "If you want it done, you go do it" is completely contrary to the whole idea of having a nation.

A standing volunteer military force exists even in peace time, with the understanding that they are paid to fight when the nation deems necessary. This is done precisely so that not everyone has to drop everything and go fight.

If we're young, able, and willing, we give a few years before we move on to get tied up in a life that we can't leave for war, and in return we get additional opportunities later in life.

I did it; I got injured in training and then got the big green weenie on top of that but such is life.

I don't have any problem with ThatsJustWierd for not joining, so what right do people like Jakomo and Da Funk have to hold it against him?

If ThatsJustWierd is a coward for not enlisting, then I say Jakomo and Da Funk are murders for funding this war, and their cowards for not having the courage to stop paying their taxes, which fund this war which they are so opposed to. You know that if you had the spine to back your beliefs, you anti-war people could pull us out of Iraq by the purse strings with civil disobedience. Ouch; not liking our own medicine now, are we?