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Editorial: The U.S. Army's Future

      What is Army Chief of Staff General Eric K. Shinseki thinking?  After over 30 years of Army service, you would think he'd already have a blueprint for a future U.S. Army.  On the other hand, officers do not make the General ranks if they show a desire to change anything.  General Shinseki has embraced a vague concept of a lighter Army, but real change is limited to "transforming" two brigades at Fort Lewis, while the Army's other 30 brigades retain their Cold war structure.   What about the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which was already "transformed" into a medium brigade a couple of years ago?  What about Force XXI, which has already "digitized" the 4th (Mech) Infantry Division.  What about the 82nd Airborne, will they remain the Army's rapid deployment force?   Where is the blueprint? 

      Why does change require more funding?  The Army claims it need billions of dollars to transform itself, and 40,000 more troops, and billions of dollar more just to sustain its current force.  The Army will get more money, as all the military services exploit an increasingly corrupt U.S. Congress, which accepted almost $10 million dollars in bribes from defense contractors this year.   It seems this "transformation" is mostly a sales gimmick to justify more spending.  Several Army officers have argued that the Army already has the ideal medium weight combat vehicle, the M113, and only needs to modernize these proven workhorses.  Shinseki prefers "new" wheeled vehicles, and wants billions dollars in new funding for his blurry vision.

     Meanwhile, the real issues the Army faces are ignored.  Why waste billions of dollars to maintain units in Korea and Germany?  Do heavy divisions really require over 300 tanks?  What is the plan to fill the huge shortfall in Combat Service Support units?  Is it smart to park a brigade of equipment in Kuwait?  The only real decision General Shinseki made was to allow all soldiers to wear black berets, and most soldiers hate the idea.

     Unfortunately, these issues are unknown in Congress and the major media.  Even "professional" journals have become too politically sensitive and dependent on advertising dollars from defense contractors to address serious issues.  Morale in the U.S. military is not low because of tough challenges, but because no one in charge seems to care about anything more than promotion, travel junkets, and retirement pay.  G2mil provides a forum to expose and discuss these problems; read on.

                                                                                                      Carlton Meyer editorG2mil@Gmail.com 

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November 2000 Articles:

have been returned to the Members Library

Letters - comments from G2mil readers

The Digital Squad - one soldier cannot carry all the new digital gadgets

Wheels vs Tracks vs Bands - new rubber tracked vehicles outperform wheels

MK-71 8-inch Naval Gun - the promised 155mm gun will fail

Theater-Wide Anti-Aircraft Missiles - if AWACs and Hawkeye can see, they can shoot

155mm Mortars - let infantrymen employ 155mm munitions

G2mil Library

Library Tour - visit parts of G2mil's military research library

Library Entrance - members only

All material in G2mil Copyright 2000 G2mil, patents pending on some items