11 Years Of War Have Taken Their Toll On The U.S. Military

U.S. troops receive a pre-mission brief on Forward Operating Base Farah before a mission in Farah City, Afghanistan, Dec. 2, 2012. The soldiers are assigned to Provincial Reconstruction Team Farah. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Petty Officer Josh Ives

The Post-9/11 Wars Have Taken Their Toll On The U.S. Military -- David Frum, National Post

Has the U.S. military been pushed too far?

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have taken a heavy toll on the U.S. armed forces.

About 6,650 Americans have died in those two wars, as have 1,390 allied personnel, Canadians prominent among them.

That’s tragically a big number. The roster of the slain would have stretched even longer, but for the amazing advances in military armour and military medicine over the past generation.

More than 50,000 Americans have been wounded in battle since 9/11 — 16,000 of them so seriously that they would certainly have died had they suffered an equivalent wound in any prior conflict.

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My Comment: Yup .... it has been a long 11 years.

A Brutal And Blunt Commentary On America's Military Leadership

General John R. Allen, left, incoming commander, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)/U.S. Forces- Afghanistan (USFOR-A) and General David H. Petraeus, commander, ISAF/USFOR-A, attend a meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan in this July 9, 2011 file photograph. The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, is under investigation for alleged inappropriate communication with a woman at the center of the scandal involving former CIA Director David Petraeus.Nov 14, 2012. Photo: Reuters

Pentagon Peacocks -- G. Murphy Donovan, American Thinker

The Davis Petraeus saga is another urban legend; a myth about a great man felled by a single flaw or indiscretion. The truth is that Petraeus is a bit player in a larger, uglier drama, the political corruption the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and that exclusive four star glut that sits atop the military. And the rot didn't start with Petraeus.

Recall Army Chief-of-Staff George Casey taking to the airways to rationalize the Fort Hood Islamist massacre in 2009. Somehow "diversity" and Muslim sensitivities were more important than twin dangers of domestic sedition or troop safety on American bases. Casey was thrown at the Sunday chat shows, like the more recent Susan Rice mendacity tour, to spin a politically correct message.

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My Comment: Ouch.

The Revolving Door Of U.S. Generals In Afghanistan

General Petraeus in Afghanistan

Afghan Revolving Door: 5 US Generals, 5 Years -- Yahoo News/AP

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — For former CIA director David Petraeus, it was a one-year stint as top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. His replacement is scheduled to leave next year after 18 months in the job.

And now the sex scandal that draws them together — Petraeus' career toppled and Marine Gen. John Allen's possibly on hold — also has placed greater attention to the quick turnover of American battlefield chiefs in the 11-year war.

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My Comment: This constant flow of new faces must perturb our Afghan allies to no end. How can you establish relationships when you know that he or she will be gone in a year. But then again .... who wants to work/live in Afghanistan for 2,3, or 4 years .... definitely not today`s group of generals.

Why We Need To Select Better Generals

General Failure -- Thomas E. Ricks, The Atlantic

Looking back on the troubled wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, many observers are content to lay blame on the Bush administration. But inept leadership by American generals was also responsible for the failure of those wars. A culture of mediocrity has taken hold within the Army’s leadership rank—if it is not uprooted, the country’s next war is unlikely to unfold any better than the last two.

On June 13, 1944, a few days after the 90th Infantry Division went into action against the Germans in Normandy under the command of Brigadier General Jay MacKelvie, MacKelvie’s superior officer, Major General J. Lawton Collins, went on foot to check on his men. “We could locate no regimental or battalion headquarters,” he recalled with dismay. “No shelling was going on, nor any fighting that we could observe.” This was an ominous sign, as the Battle of Normandy was far from decided, and the Wehrmacht was still trying to push the Americans, British, and Canadians, who had landed a week earlier, back into the sea.

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My Comment: A long but sobering essay. Read it all.

Why Are U.S. Troops Still Stationed In Europe?

Why Are American Troops Still Stationed In Europe? -- Doug Bandow, Forbes

REGENSBURG, GERMANY—Washington has sharply reduced the number of American combat forces in Europe since the end of the Cold War, but a large U.S. military footprint remains. The Soviet “Evil Empire” has collapsed, Eastern Europe has switched sides, and America’s European allies now possess a collective GDP and population larger than the U.S. Why are American military personnel still stationed on the continent?

Regensburg once was a Roman garrison town and is a celebrated tourist site. More important for Americans, nearby sits the U.S. Army’s Hohenfels training facility.

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My Comment: I agree with the above question .... why are American troops still stationed in Europe? If the roles were reversed .... Russian troops in eastern Europe .... we would all be asking ourselves .... what is that all about. But in this case .... the Russians are smarter. They are not spending (and wasting) money on defending Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, etc .... we are.

Today's U.S. Generals Do Not Measure Up To U.S. Generals Of The Past (Book Review)

A Few Good Leaders of Men -- Andrew Roberts, Wall Street Journal

No military leader can be expected to win without bloodshed.

"American generals were managed very differently in World War Two than they were in subsequent wars," writes Thomas E. Ricks, the former Pentagon correspondent of the Washington Post. "During World War Two, senior American commanders were given a few months in which to succeed, be killed or wounded, or be replaced."

Mr. Ricks rightly puts this policy down to Gen. George C. Marshall, U.S. Army chief of staff from 1939 to 1945 and one of the chief architects of the defeat of the Axis. During World War II, 16 generals were relieved of their command out of the 155 who commanded divisions, as well as no fewer than five corps commanders. By contrast, the most senior soldier to be relieved during the eight years that the United States fought in Iraq after 2003 was a colonel, Joe Dowdy. "As matters stand now," Mr. Ricks quotes another colonel saying, "a private who loses a rifle suffers far greater consequences than a general who loses his part in a war."

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My Comment: My favorite general (historically speaking) is this one .... followed very closely by this one. The U.S. general that I have always admired the most .... is this one.