- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 410
Granted, it's probably not fair to compare foreign military trends or discussions to our Canadian situation, however I couldn't help but note how ironic it is: this American general suggests their Army needs to increase in size by 60,000 due to increased demands such as peacekeeping missions.
I say ironic, since the Canadian Army has already seen heavier demands placed upon it for a number of years now. The Canadian reaction? "Cut the reserves", of course!
(I know, I know - the CF spin doctors would have you believe the opposite, however when reserve establishments are being cut back to company size, it's only a matter of time before units will be struggling to field a platoon ... but that's just my personal opinion)
Dileas Gu Brath
M.A. Bossi, Esquire
Army Needs to Grow by Up to 60,000, General Says
Updated 12:42 PM ET November 30, 2000
By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army needs up to 60,000 more soldiers to keep pace with growing global missions like peacekeeping and humanitarian aid, a top Army general said on Thursday, joining other calls from the U.S. military for more money and troops.
Four-star Gen. John Hendrix, head of the Army's key Forces Command, said the 454,000-member Army of the world's sole superpower will continue to face rising calls for tasks from peacekeeping to humanitarian aid in the decade ahead.
"Don't put these words in the secretary of defense's mouth or the secretary of the Army's mouth," Hendrix told reporters in an interview. "If we were to maintain the level of operations that we have today, probably, I would say, 40,000, 50,000 or 60,000 more soldiers" are needed.
"If you look at what we're doing, we really are stretched," he said, adding that he needed another $800 million on top of his own current budget of $3.5 billion to maintain and equip forces based in the United States ready to supply global missions.
Other military officers from all services have said the U.S. armed forces, shrunk to 1.4 million troops by budget and other cuts after the Cold War, will likely need to grow in the years ahead.
But Hendrix' figures were the first public and concrete estimate of the Army's needed growth.
A major issue facing the next U.S. president is also a rising call from Pentagon military and civilian officials for sharp increases in the current $310 billion annual U.S. defense budget.
Air Force Secretary Whitten Peters estimated in an interview with reporters that the Pentagon's budget needed to grow by as much as $100 billion a year to maintain fighting readiness while modernizing aging weapons built for the Cold War.
Military spending and forces will be a major national security problem facing either Republican George W. Bush or Democrat Al Gore, fighting bitterly over Florida votes in their rival claims to become the next U.S. president in January.
One issue to be decided in a review planned by the Defense Department in 2001 is whether the U.S. military should maintain its current readiness to fight two major conflicts at virtually the same time while keeping up with growing demands for other noncombat missions.
"The question would be: is the future the same as the last decade?" Hendrix asked rhetorically.
"I don't know. But I don't see a quick exit from anything from the things we are doing. And I see other possibilities out there globally for similar types of action."
I say ironic, since the Canadian Army has already seen heavier demands placed upon it for a number of years now. The Canadian reaction? "Cut the reserves", of course!
(I know, I know - the CF spin doctors would have you believe the opposite, however when reserve establishments are being cut back to company size, it's only a matter of time before units will be struggling to field a platoon ... but that's just my personal opinion)
Dileas Gu Brath
M.A. Bossi, Esquire
Army Needs to Grow by Up to 60,000, General Says
Updated 12:42 PM ET November 30, 2000
By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army needs up to 60,000 more soldiers to keep pace with growing global missions like peacekeeping and humanitarian aid, a top Army general said on Thursday, joining other calls from the U.S. military for more money and troops.
Four-star Gen. John Hendrix, head of the Army's key Forces Command, said the 454,000-member Army of the world's sole superpower will continue to face rising calls for tasks from peacekeeping to humanitarian aid in the decade ahead.
"Don't put these words in the secretary of defense's mouth or the secretary of the Army's mouth," Hendrix told reporters in an interview. "If we were to maintain the level of operations that we have today, probably, I would say, 40,000, 50,000 or 60,000 more soldiers" are needed.
"If you look at what we're doing, we really are stretched," he said, adding that he needed another $800 million on top of his own current budget of $3.5 billion to maintain and equip forces based in the United States ready to supply global missions.
Other military officers from all services have said the U.S. armed forces, shrunk to 1.4 million troops by budget and other cuts after the Cold War, will likely need to grow in the years ahead.
But Hendrix' figures were the first public and concrete estimate of the Army's needed growth.
A major issue facing the next U.S. president is also a rising call from Pentagon military and civilian officials for sharp increases in the current $310 billion annual U.S. defense budget.
Air Force Secretary Whitten Peters estimated in an interview with reporters that the Pentagon's budget needed to grow by as much as $100 billion a year to maintain fighting readiness while modernizing aging weapons built for the Cold War.
Military spending and forces will be a major national security problem facing either Republican George W. Bush or Democrat Al Gore, fighting bitterly over Florida votes in their rival claims to become the next U.S. president in January.
One issue to be decided in a review planned by the Defense Department in 2001 is whether the U.S. military should maintain its current readiness to fight two major conflicts at virtually the same time while keeping up with growing demands for other noncombat missions.
"The question would be: is the future the same as the last decade?" Hendrix asked rhetorically.
"I don't know. But I don't see a quick exit from anything from the things we are doing. And I see other possibilities out there globally for similar types of action."
