28 January 2009

Active Duty Military Barely Increased Following 9/11


Tom Ricks shares a comprehensive powerpoint showing the percentages by rank and by branch that have served in a combat zone. Not surprising when two wars are going on, but it's pretty damn high. The fact that the number of military on active duty has hardly increased is most likely to blame for repeated deployments, national guard mobilizations, stop-loss, and a host of other issues which threaten morale and readiness. You can thank Rumsfeld for that. But will Obama make good on his promise to increase the Army by 65,000 soldiers and the USMC by 27,000 Marines. Stay tuned.

4 comments:

subrookie said...

I thought you had enough of powerpoints? Maybe I was wrong, now that you're out of the Navy you're starting to miss them aren't you?

Nixon said...

You can never have enuff powerpoint. I like the font and use of the legend on this one.

Wek said...

We'll be watching Obama at Operation Yellow Elephant. Please send me any news you may come across to a.) hold him accountable or b.) offer praise for following thru on his promise.

Skippy-san said...

You bring up a great point and its one of the reasons I am so down on Rumsfeld. Congress was practically falling all over itself to give the military more people and weapons in 2002 and all the SECDEF would have had to do is ask.

IMHO, if one is serious about a 20 year war-then the Army has to be about 750,000