Military Times: America’s Military: A force adrift

The height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were fat times for military pay and benefits. Troops were flush with combat cash and other special pays, tax breaks and sometimes six-figure re-enlistment bonuses.

 

.. But that’s all changed. Several years of steep cuts in defense spending, troop layoffs and diminished pay raises has left those in uniform shaken, worried whether the military remains a viable career path and whether they can get ahead while in uniform.

.. “They’re still living paycheck to paycheck,” said the sailor, who asked to remain anonymous. “It’s really only after you’ve been in 10 or 12 years when you actually start making money.”

.. Moreover, the survey shows about half of troops say they are “very worried” or “somewhat worried” about their household finances.

 

 

Military Times: Were the wars worth the cost?

The black-and-white issue of winning and losing is not something most service members dwell on. Instead, the conversation among military professionals is more nuanced.

“What actually comes up is more the question of what our goal in Afghanistan was, not so much, ‘Did we win or did we lose?’ or ‘Should we stay or should we be pulling out?’ The question I hear is about what we as a nation intended to accomplish,” Lacy said.

.. “Initially, our goal was to go find bin Laden, that was the impression that most of us had. We accomplished our mission. But then all the other stuff? How much do we need to be responsible for another nation? If we are somehow responsible, then for how long are we responsible?” Lacy said.
.. Yet most troops disagree with those defense experts on the value of staying in Afghanistan. In the Military Times survey, only 28 percent of active-duty troops say the U.S. should maintain a troop presence there beyond 2016.

.. Bradshaw, the Navy corpsman who deployed several times to both Iraq and Afghanistan, said he was frustrated by the conservative rules of engagement imposed due to concerns about civilian casualties.”At one point, the Marines couldn’t shoot unless they were shot at first. That added to the body count, and I’m the one that has to go try and patch them up,” Bradshaw said. “I’m not sure who was to blame, whether it was the military leadership or politicians that tied their hands, but I lost a lot of Marines because of the ROE.”

.. About 70 percent of the active-duty troops surveyed said the U.S. should not send a significant number of ground troops to Iraq to support Baghdad’s fight against the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

.. “I think it’s good that the war [in Afghanistan] is winding down,” Fox said. “As always, the Marines are going to do what they’re told to do to the best of their ability. If it so happens that there isn’t really a military solution to a particular problem, that’s not on us. And that pretty much sums up Iraq and Afghanistan.”

History of Guns in US Military

In the wars fought since World War II, the vast majority of men and women in uniform have not engaged in the intimate act of killing. Their work is much the same as their civilian counterparts’. It is the infantryman’s job to intentionally seek out and kill the enemy, at the risk of violent death. The Army and Marine Corps infantry, joined by a very small band of Special Operations forces, comprises roughly 100,000 soldiers, some 5 percent of uniformed Defense Department employees. During World War II, 70 percent of all soldiers killed at the hands of the enemy were infantry. In the wars since, that proportion has grown to about 80 percent. These are the (mostly) men whose survival depends on their rifles and ammunition.

.. He’s an experienced, long-service professional who deserves the same excellent firearm as the more “elite” Special Operations forces, who have the privilege of buying the best civilian gear off the shelf if they want to.