Smell That?

Military Is Ill-Prepared For Other Conflicts. By Ann Scott Tyson Washington Post Staff Hack, hacking State propaganda into a woe unto us sheepable article, aka the US military is short on, stark, bothersome, at risk, lacking, soon to be broken, in dire staits. Run Forrest run.

"… ground forces in the United States short of the training, personnel and equipment that would be vital to fight a major ground conflict elsewhere, senior U.S. military and government officials acknowledge.

The risk to the nation is serious and deepening, senior officers warn …

Gen. Richard A. Cody, described as "stark" the level of readiness of Army units in the United States, which would be called on if another war breaks out.

Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, Venezuela, Colombia, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, North Korea, back around to Pakistan, and I probably missed a few. There's no dearth of challenges out there for our armed forces," Pace warned in his testimony. He said the nation faces increased risk because of shortfalls in troops, equipment and training.

"The status of our Army prepositioned stock . . . is bothersome," Cody said last week.

Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz (D-Texas), chairman of the committee's readiness panel, said: "I have seen the classified-only readiness reports. And based on those reports, I believe that we as a nation are at risk of major failure, should our Army be called to deploy to an emerging threat."

Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), who attended the briefing, said, "We are at a crisis point across the board." And Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.), said, "This nation has got to replenish and fix what is soon going to be broken."

The shortages have deepened as scarce equipment and personnel are funneled to those units next in line to deploy overseas, creating ever bigger holes in the units that will leave later. "It's like a hurricane drawing everything into the center of the eye," said a senior Army officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

The Marine Corps is not training for amphibious, mountain or jungle warfare, nor conducting large-scale live-fire maneuvers, Conway said. "We've got a little bit of a blindside there," he said. The Marine Corps and Army both lack sufficient manpower to give troops a break from the combat zone long enough to complete their full spectrum of training, senior officials said.

"Boots on the ground matter," the senior Army officer said. "If they are tied down, your ability to terminate a conflict on your terms, earlier, may not be there."

---- Ya just never know when China will tire of massive Anglo investment and attack. Ya just never know when North Korea or some pip squeaky nation will decide to do suicide by World Cop. Ya just never know when those hundreds of thousands and growing PMCs , have gun will travel troops, decide to give unarmed peace a chance. Ya just never know. Inhale mmmm sniff … I love the smell of more defense appropriations in the morning. Smells like victory boy.