Absent from this debate is: just WHAT do we want our army to be able to do? Is it supposed to defeat enemies on the battlefield? Or is it to act as a policeman for unstable countries? Frankly, until this question is answered, we are always going to wind up spending for things we don’t need. For example: the US Army has its own airforce-why? Why can’t the Air Force have this role?
But as for having another war in the Middle East, this country will NOT stand for it-the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan are strong.
Anybody who thinks a war with Iran would be short and sweet is crazy-we are talking about a decades-long conflict, with massive casualties. And (economically) it would plunge us into depression.
That’s probably the least pressing question when it comes to the structure of the armed forces.
Someone far more witty than me once posed this question: “I understand why we have a Navy. I understand why the Navy has an air force. I understand why the Navy has an army. But why does the Navy’s army need an air force?”
To have Special Forces that really are ‘special’ you need a large pool of potential candidates. If the pool shrinks, you either lower your standards or accept a much smaller force, many of whom won’t be all that good.
Chiefly I suspect since Japan was winning every battle.
I am not a military expert by any means, but is it not the lesson of history that any time special forces have attempted to fight regular troops…conventionally, they have come off worse?
A good rule of thumb is that special forces will win the first forty-eight hours of a battle and then lose after that.
The bottom line is regardless of how great a soldier you are, if an artillery shell drops on you, you’re dead. If a special forces unit attacks a regular unit by surprise, it can inflict a lot of damage before the regular unit is ready. But once the regular unit gets over its initial shock and reinforcements are brought in, they can just sit back and pound on the special forces unit. And special forces units are small and light and don’t have the depth to absorb casualties.