re: Pentagon plants to shrink army to pre WW2 level

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What mission can the navy presently not perform? (Besides free the ocean of Somali pirates)

Do we really need another 13 billion dollar aircraft carrier?

How many vessels have we built and scrapped since WWII that never did jack shite?

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Today's Navy has 268 ships as I recall. Well too small for it's current mission. Current deployments of our combat ships range between 8 and 9 months. To be deployed that long is hard on equipment as well as personnel. We currently are operating 10 Aircraft carrier battle groups...I am unsure but I believe that is two short of what we are suppose to be operating by law. With the shift of global strategy to the Pacific you will need more not less ships then the Atlantic as the Pacific is ginormous.

All this wonderful security you currently enjoy from other countries fricking with us is because you have a navy that sits on those moats between us and the rest of the world. You don't need a giant standing army to protect us in today's world, but you are foolish if you think you don't need another 13 billion dollar carrier.

The navy remains the tip of the sword.

(You also need a very robust air force).

But Rob imagine the money we saved if we stopped being Japan and Germany's defense department.

Increase the size of the Navy. The Army should be comprised mainly of National Guard.

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The problem with a large standing army some a-hole in Washington feels like he needs to use it to justify it's existence.

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This reminds me of that famous exchange between Colin Powell and Madeline Albright.

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But Rob imagine the money we saved if we stopped being Japan and Germany's defense department.

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Oh I'm right there with you on this one.

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just as they were in the 80s.

"I wanna be a surface warrior
Sail out on the deep blue sea
I wanna spend 12 months off Beirut
Family life is not for me."

The job of the Navy is to be at sea on ships, this will be true at 600 ships (my time) or 150.

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I was stationed on an aircraft carrier out of San Diego in the 80s. Our maximum deployment time was 6 months. That did not include sea trials, quals, and the random rimpac or exercises off of Korea. 1988 in fact still did not exist for me as I was at sea for 11 months that year. My ship saw a serious degrading of combat readiness that year due to being at sea too much.

The job of a sailor is in fact to be at sea. However, if you want a combat ready fleet you have to bring them into port for basic maintenance of both ships and personnel.

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Didn't we shrink the military just prior to WWI, and WWII.

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We never had a large standing army until just prior to World War 2.

The army we have kept since then was largely a byproduct of the cold war. There was a major shrinkage of our combat forces after the first gulf war. A lot of my friends "retired" with just 14 or 15 years from the navy.

Are we going to shrink the swollen number of flag officers? We have more generals and admirals than we did in WW2, when we had fifteen million men under arms.

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And about 70% of them are glorified bureaucrats that don't even lead any troops.

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and shouldn't.

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But that makes too much sense. Instead, with the current policy, you get to see C-17s doing touch and goes at the end of every month to burn off excess fuel, so they don't get cut later on in fuel supply.

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Negative Ghostrider. AF reg 51-50 plainly states what events all pilots must accomplish to maintain currency. It's the same in the civilian world. There's a certain amount of different types of approaches all pilots have to do in a time period in order to be "current." I had a hardass DO who would cancel leave if you didn't have all your 51-50 squares met.