My Turn: Shrinking armed forces cause for serious concern
Despite the fog of war that hangs heavy over Iraq these days, one thing is crystal clear: Our armed forces there are stretched very thin.
A stunning victory over the vaunted forces of Saddam Hussein and his henchmen has deteriorated into a netherworld of military occupation. It’s been hours and hours of numbing routine, punctuated by moments of stark terror.
As usual, the United States Army bears the brunt of efforts to bring security and stability to post-war Iraq. Obviously, these efforts are encountering rising resistance, first from diehard dissidents loyal to Saddam Hussein, and now from outside fighters who oppose our occupation of Iraq.
So far, our volunteer Army has acquitted itself very well in Iraq. It spearheaded the blitzkrieg on Baghdad, then transitioned, however tentatively, into security and stability missions. Nevertheless, the stress and strain of doing so has begun to show.
False and fleeting promises of early re-deployment from Iraq have hurt morale, not only for the soldiers involved, but for their families and loved ones as well. Reports of shortages of equipment and supplies don’t help either. Add to this the very real prospect that combat units may face a return to Iraq as part of the rotation cycle to sustain our presence there, and the morale and readiness implications loom even larger.
To the casual observer, all this talk of an army stretched too thin, and all that entails, may seem like much ado about very little. Actually, nothing could be further than the truth. That truth is that our Army, yours and mine, has shrunk incredibly in the past few years. For example, during the first Persian Gulf War, there were about 750,000 soldiers on active duty in the U.S. Army. As of this writing, that number has dwindled to about 480,000 soldiers.
Meanwhile, missions have multiplied and overseas deployments continue apace. Roughly two-thirds of our Army’s combat power is now overseas, much of it in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, we also have thousands of troops in such far-flung places as Germany, Bosnia, Korea and Japan.
This case of what I call the “incredible shrinking army” should be at the forefront of discussion and debate, in Congress, in the White House and in the media. Sadly, it is not. More sadly, our soldiers and their families will continue to serve and sacrifice while too many of us bask in ignorance of their plight.