It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
Originally posted by WestPoint23
I agree with that but isn't the type of combat we have fought since the Vietnam war the most difficult one of all to succeed in?
Given the fact that there are so many more factors which must be dealt with.
I was under the impression that large conventional conflicts were the bred and butter of the US military machine. Maybe man for man we're not the "best" but as a whole I'm almost tempted to say it.
Originally posted by StellarX
The US does not in my opinion have a very good record when it comes to large scale conventional conflicts and it just gets worse when it comes to anti insurgency fighting.
Stellar
Originally posted by BlueRaja
Can you show some examples of our poor record in conventional warfare?
Would our foe have to be Russia, China, or something along those lines before it would count?
How many years did Iraq and Iran fight, only to end in a stalemate, with over a million dead? How long did it take us to defeat them conventionally? 100 hours in Desert Storm, and a few weeks to topple Saddam.
Are you saying other countries could've achieved these goals faster, due to our incompetence?
Originally posted by Kr0n0s
... the best fighting force in the world. The US Marines
Originally posted by magicmushroom
Blueraja, you lost the Vietnam war period, stop splitting hairs by saying which battle did they loose or win. Comparing Iraq's military to America's is just childish. Iraq's armed forces had been depleted by the Iran/Iraq war and were by modern standards 3rd rate. In other words no effective force to stop the allies ranged against them.
This is witnessed by its actions in past conflicts and the present one. Again the worlds only super power is getting wupped by freedom fighters and one of the main reasons why is the mindset of the forces on both sides. The Iraqis and their supporters are fighting an occupying alien force and have a legitamate reason to do so where as American troops know they are just hired guns doing the dirty work for the corporate machineand as such are doomed to failure.
It must come as a shock when you think your the best when reality proves otherwise.
Originally posted by BlueRaja
You failed to address any of my points-
A- name one major military battle in Vietnam that the US military lost, or any post Vietnam battle for that matter, seeing as how we're discussing the current state of the US military.
B- The Iraqis and Iranians didn't seem to have problems killing each other, so we know that their weapons are lethal.
In Desert Storm, Iraq had the 5th largest military in the world,
and with the exception of Russia, China, North Korea, they had one of the most dense air defense networks deployed.
We ran over them in 100 hrs. When we launched the ground invasion in 2003, we took Baghdad in 3 weeks, with a pretty small force.
Tell me which country could've achieved these feats faster.
C- So if the countries you mentioned only had the size, firepower, logistical capabilities, command and control, and situational awareness as the US, they'd be far more deadly and efficient eh?
Originally posted by magicmushroom
A- The US forces for some time have never had to deal with a modern well equiped and motivated force. In the History of the US armed forces when they did come up against such forces they were well beaten and only the fact of allied forces working together made the real difference.
B- The reason for this is that the gruntys on the gorund are simply not good enough to do the job as they lack the skills, courage and motivation to obtain the required result.
C- to date the US has suffered 140,000 casulties in Iraq since it invaded, this figure includes dead, wounded, disease etc. How large has this figure got to be before some one realises something is going wrong.