The Optimism of GEN Westmoreland persists...

Another Vietnam? Maybe a bad analogy.

It seems that, once again, senior leaders of the military are painting a rosy picture of progress in a war zone. What do you expect from career officers who lead the most can-do organization in the world?  The can-do attitude of the America military is both its greatest strength and weakness. Here is an excerpt from the article describing the reaction of DNI Clapper, who is himself a retired 3-star USAF general that has fully embraced the goatee and a less rosy picture of progress as DNI, to testimony regarding the sentiments expressed by the operational commander in Afghanistan, the CENTCOM Commander, and the EUCOM Commander (as well as Ambassador Crocker):

Well, yes [there are differences in opinion], Clapper said, those officials “took issue with the NIE on three counts having to do with the force structure, didn’t feel that we gave sufficient weight to Pakistan and its impact as a safe haven and generally felt that the NIE was pessimistic” about the situation in Afghanistan and “the prospects for post-2014,” when troops are to withdraw. Clapper tried to ease Levin’s concerns. “If you’ll forgive a little history, sir,” he began. “I served as an analyst briefer for General Westmoreland in Vietnam in 1966.” Clapper said he learned there that it’s typical that the “operational commanders sometimes don’t agree” with the intelligence team’s assessment of their efforts.

Here is an example of how foreign armies view the American can-do attitude:

All In: The Education of General David Petraeus

Petraeus urged to quit over Afghan drawdown

What I found most interesting in this advance copy book review is the following:

She describes how Petraeus' first act was to lift McChrystal's restrictions on the use of force - especially on airstrikes - if civilians were nearby. "There is no question about our commitment to reducing civilian loss of life," Petraeus told his staff. There was, however, "a clear moral imperative to make sure we are fully supporting our troops in combat." Broadwell adds that the problem, according to Petraeus, was less McChrystal's order than how it was even more strictly re-interpreted by lower commanders.

Eight U.S. Soldiers Charged In Death of Fellow Soldier

This is absolutely disgusting. As Attackerman points out, "five of those charged are sergeants in the company. One of them is a lieutenant — Chen’s own platoon leader." What kind of officers and NCOs are we producing? It sounds like more than a little ribbing was going on here. The worst part about this is his company leadership allowed it. I would love to know more about the background of 1LT Schwartz and SSG Van Bockel...

General Dynamics completes acquisition of Force Protection

General Dynamics doubles down on blast-resistant military vehicles

MRAPs are the type of technology that is needed in Afghanistan to save lives; hopefully this merger will allow General Dynamics to produce them quickly and cheaply. Well at least produce them cheaper than the F-35, which shouldn't be too hard...  compared to the Joint Strike Fighter program, MRAP is cheap.
"The FY 2012 Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) budget requests $3.2 billion for sustainment, upgrade, and overhaul of MRAP vehicles."

Here is a graph showing funding for the top 30 acquisition programs in DoD:

Defense cuts could lead to military draft, House Armed Services chairman says

I seriously doubt this will happen, but it would end the wars pretty quickly if you ask me. Suddenly people would care a little more because they could have some skin in the game... e.g. their children.

The Dead, the Dollars, the Drones: 9/11 Era by the Numbers

Defense spending must have credit limits

Pace at the hearing put forward a stunning fact we should remember: “Less than 1 percent of the nation has been defending the other 99 percent for 10 years.” McKeon on Monday picked up that thought with a slightly different twist: Since Sept. 11, 2001, he said, “the majority of Americans have lived without being touched by the horrors of conflict. We are at the mall while Marines are in the mud.” Only Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) called the committee’s attention to the fact that Afghanistan and Iraq are “the first wars in American history that we didn’t even try to pay for. There was no war tax. There were no war bonds. . . . Instead, we borrowed the money from China and other foreign nations.” We are still borrowing for our defense and not paying for it. Maybe it’s time for the parent to take back that credit card.

Sikorsky Grew With America's Two Long Wars

At least Blackhawks are used in the current wars... the majority of the R&D money the Air Force hands out surely isn't.

“For the Taliban, Islam is about propaganda... For us, it’s about faith.”

In recent years, the army has recruited 50 men known as hafiz — those who have memorized the Koran — in addition to dozens of clerics. Those officials work to ensure that Islamic law is observed within the ranks and that the intensity of the war doesn’t overwhelm soldiers’ religious obligations. The army’s cadre of spiritual leaders, most of whom carry religious texts, not weapons, are also meant to send a message to Afghan civilians, as walking symbols of the military’s faith.

Americans live in an era of endless war

War should not be normal. It should be an aberration, a black mark on the world, something that is rare and exemplifies the complete breakdown of how a society should solve problems. However, for Americans, it is not.

The long stretch of war has also isolated the U.S. military from society. Senior Army officials worry that career soldiers have forgotten how to take care of their troops outside the war zones. A 2010 Army study partially blamed the service’s unusually high suicide rate on the “lost art of leadership in garrison.”


Other top military officials fret that the troops are developing a troubling sense that they are better than the society they serve.

Why shouldn't the troops feel that they are better than the society they serve? This nation has been at war for 10 years and less than one percent of Americans have served in those wars. The veterans that do leave the service before military retirement can't even find a job and have to start from scratch in building a new career because corporate America doesn't recognize the skills they have gained through military service. The career servicemembers that retire end up working for defense contractors that keep them in the "military bubble" isolated from society, perpetuating war by building more powerful weapons and equipment with 435 different parts manufactured in each congressional district in the nation. It is a sad state of affairs.

Read the article. Americans shouldn't accept living in an era of endless war.

IED Attacks in Afghanistan

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Careful preparation, rather than expensive weapons, took out Osama Bin Laden

Emotionally, the Bush administration—and the country—felt the need for a major military response after the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But although Iraq may still come right in the end, was it the best use of our money and resources? Afghanistan may eventually become stable—but haven't we just learned, if we didn't know it already, that the real and more complicated threat now comes from Pakistan? In 2008, the U.S. ambassador to Kabul told me, in effect, that Pakistan was none of his business. Perhaps it should have been.

Are you kidding me William Braucher Wood? Pakistan was none of your business? No wonder it took almost 10 years to get bin Laden. I bet Ronald Neumann, ambassador from 2005 to 2007, felt the same way.

How the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan

Throughout the occupation, Soviet leaders launched a series of initiatives aimed at helping their Afghan allies stand on their own feet — to gain domestic and international legitimacy and to develop the wherewithal to fight off insurgent campaigns. This would in turn allow the Soviets to withdraw honorably. Each effort was announced with great fanfare, implemented and eventually found wanting.

Years of economic and development aid — employing thousands of Soviet specialists and costing billions of rubles — were found to have been largely wasted because of poor planning and corruption, and programs were pared back. The advisers the Soviet Union had placed at every level of the Afghan government, military and ruling party were doing the Afghans’ work for them, rather than developing competent and independent bureaucratic cadres, and Gorbachev withdrew them. Ambassadors were changed, generals shuffled, military strategies adjusted. Special forces were used with increasing frequency, and there was an effort to push the Afghan military into taking a more prominent role in operations — an effort made more difficult because Soviet officers often didn’t trust the Afghans.

Vickers

What a remarkable career. At least now I know who the smart former Green Beret from Charlie Wilson's War is...

A new national security team

Here are some quick comments on the national security moves:

It appears clear to me that Ryan Crocker will be an upgrade over Karl Eikenberry as ambassador to Afghanistan.

As to the other moves, in my mind, Secretary Gates is the finest Secretary of Defense in our history. Mr. Panetta, although talented, probably won't come close to Secretary Gates. Secretary Gates has been fighting the DoD bureaucracy since the beginning of his tenure asking for budget cuts and to spend money on "stuff" we need now, not 20 years from now; he was a visionary. Mr. Panetta, a Washington insider, is not a visionary.

With regards to the GEN Petraeus move, it seems like a lateral move that just allows him to collect his Army retirement check and a paycheck for being CIA Director, while keeping him in the United States with his family (most of the time). This move also keeps him off the ballot, an added benefit to career politicians that view him as a potential threat.

Finally, Lt. Gen. Allen will do a fine job in Afghanistan if his work in Iraq's MNF-W is any indicator.



Here is an excerpt from the article:

Perhaps the greatest risk of the reshuffle comes in Afghanistan, where the departure of Gen. Petraeus will remove America’s most skilled military commander from a campaign that appears to be teetering between success and failure. Lt. Gen. Allen, however, was a key contributor to the successful turnaround of the war in Iraq; and Mr. Crocker offers a major improvement over his predecessor, Karl Eikenberry, who contributed substantially to the souring of U.S. relations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Stigma of PTSD is costing U.S. lives

I couldn't agree with this op-ed more.

Clay Hunt

"He thought the world was supposed to be a better place than it is, and he lived every day of his life thinking, perhaps naively, that his efforts could make the world be what he thought it should be," Wood said.

When Hunt woke up every day and his efforts seemed in vain, that made him more depressed, Wood said.

Wars Emerge as 2012 Issue

How can THREE wars NOT be an issue during an election? I guess it is conceivable when less than one percent of the population - the battle slaves - are fighting them.

The Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, Celexa, Effexor, Valium, Klonopin, Ativan, Restoril, Xanax, Adderall, Ritalin, Haldol, Risperdal... WAR