US Military needs to be bigger!

This is just another case as I see it that the American military or army needs to be bigger in the 21st century. A bigger army is needed so that the US can act alone in any war or situation without asking others and so that post war situations like Iraq would be better dealt with if we had large numbers of troops.

The Army is preparing to notify about 5,600 retired and discharged soldiers who are not members of the National Guard or Reserve that they will be involuntarily recalled to active duty for possible service in Iraq

story.news.yahoo.com.../ap/20040629/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraq_reserve_callup

The US increasing the size of its military is pointless, the cold war is over wake up, hundreads of thousands of troops are not needed, its the intelligence gathering and the secret services that are too small.
Terrorism is not a army its a cell, you need a larger secret servce to deal with its growing threat

The Army should never have been drawn-down like it was. I was getting out of the Army when they began it and I knew it would be a big mistake, for various reasons (economic, strategic)

The reason it was the size it was before the draw-down was not so we could "go it alone." Nothing like it. The sheer numbers was due to our two-continent war strategy. Our strategy and force-size gave us the ability to fight two wars at once (on different continents).

We are now seeing exactly why I thought it was a dumb idea. If Korea were to invade the South and China hit Taiwan simultaneously, (throw in Iran invaded Iraq, for good measure...) we'd be in trouble.

[edit on 19-09-2003 by EastCoastKid]

i think your forgetting europe and the rest of the world
we wouldn't just sit there let the world go to war with each other

I hope this makes some people in the pentagon rethink their decision and I think it has because I remembered reading somewhere that they were going to spend more money to make the US a much bigger as a force so we can fight alone in a war. What happened to the good old days of WW2 when we had 16million troops now that's a military!

cool it you crazy war monger

remember it was a world war thats why there was 16million troops, there is no longer a world war going on meaning no need to stupidly large army,

there is not a war going on we have 2 countries that we have to be in for a little longer and there is the possibility of two more wars even three on the way so we need a big military.

[edit on 29-6-2004 by WestPoint23]

The military active duty was reduced to appease the call to reduce forces after the fall of the Soviet Union, but what they did was shift the reductions to the reserves & national guard units, especially in the combat service support, medics, transportation, maintenance etc, which kept the overall strength high but without having to spend the active duty money on a daily basis.

Basicly it was a shell game to appease the public, "See, look at the active service members totals then and look at them now!" "What a reduction"

This works for most of the citizens who don't take the time to look deeper into the subject, and makes for good headlines.

BTW the bigger military you want is not too far away as the draft should be reinstated not long after the national elections this fall, IMO.

Originally posted by UK Wizard
cool it you crazy war monger

remember it was a world war thats why there was 16million troops, there is no longer a world war going on meaning no need to stupidly large army,

Someone should let China know about this

yeah but dos china have the tech ?no
so they went for numerical superiority.

Yes, our military needs to be resize, and the reason is obvious, war in Iraq has proved the need for more trained troops or better job training the reserve, if another conflict brakes out anywhere else that requires the US to supply a large amount of troops we do not have them, and let me remain you people that right now a lot of countries out there are just waiting for that opportunity.

And for China well beware US, but they are not our problem now what is our problem now is a unification of muslin radicals taking over Saudi in a civil war and the unification of muslin oil provided countries against US.

Who ever control the oil controls the world.

And this is just an opinion and a possible scenario.

As much as I would love to see an Armaggedon-type military, you have to realize just how much it would cost.

The biggest problem is personnel. If we max out the size of our military, we still need trained professionals to do the job. And since we don't draft, where are we going to get the people?

So a large military is actually out of the question. Not only is it too costly, but if you don't have the people, it's an even bigger waste.

Case in point: The 600-ship Navy vision of John Lehman never came close to completion.

This nation has taken upon itself, led by our politicians, to be the guardians and protectors of the world, now it have a dilemma, because it is stretching so thing it has not choice, either lure more people to join the arm forces or to force our young to do it, I always say that a nation that forces its country man and women to serve the government will not have the same patriotism as one that the members of his arm forces is by volunteer.

Surprising, not one person suggesting we leave some of the 180+ nations we now have soldiers in. If you trully think they are all needed, see if you can name half.....no, how about 25%......of those nations off the top of your head. I dont think this is what the founding fathers had in mind by "citizen militia".

Also think about the amount of money we spend protecting such rich nations as Germany and Japan, who can tax their own subjects, rather spending American tax money keeping tens of thousands of soldiers there.

I would much rather see the American people be relieved of a huge tax burden then continue to deploy overseas.

I would also advocate the money saved by keeping American soldiers inside America going to R&D of missle defence systems.

If every American were allowed to own a Shoulder launched, heat seeking anti-aircraft missle, we wouldnt need so many profesional soldiers. Trust me, the average American with only a small amount of practice can be made to shoot just as strait as a soldier.

Originally posted by UK Wizard
The US increasing the size of its military is pointless, the cold war is over wake up, hundreads of thousands of troops are not needed, its the intelligence gathering and the secret services that are too small.
Terrorism is not a army its a cell, you need a larger secret servce to deal with its growing threat

but this does not rule out a conventional war somplace on the globe now does it. the US military needs to be equiped to fight the chinese, north koreans, and possibly even the russians. we are no where near that. i have no problem with a liberal being president, just let a conservative run the military.

our military has to be big not doubt about that and if people don't want to volunteer well then we have to make it mandatory service or bring back the draft because frankly some Americans are just too lazy they need to get off their...and go fight for the country in a time of war.

yeah well what about the ones that cant fight or object to fighting you gona make em kill?
heres a rifle go kill that man or ill kill you.

What the hell is the point? They will all surrender in a war!. lol joking. It would be just a waste of money to make a bigger military, instead we could use the money for the American citizens.

How about we just get better training. Its not like you can just buy soldiers without draft. But you can improve on the ones you have. Spend that cash on better weapons and training.