General George Casey said the army is "out of balance" after six years of warfare in Afghanistan and Iraq, and facing unpredictable demands in an era of "persistent conflict."
"Out of balance is not broken, it's not hollow," he said. "But we're forced by the current demands on the force to do more in the current time frame at the expense of sustaining the all-volunteer force and building bridges for the future." ...
The long deployments and short time at home has left army units with little time to train for conventional warfare or contingencies other than Iraq.
Casey said it will take the army three to four years to gain the additional troops, training time and equipment needed to field an army ready for all kinds of warfare.
This is normal and not a reason to abandon Iraq. Remember, the purpose of our military is to win our wars--not to remain pristine and in readiness for a war that never comes. The mission comes first.
And I hate to say it, but the mission is more important than the Army itself. Lose the war and the Army will break. Win the war and the Army will recover. With time, of course.
Then we can retrain artillery and air defense units now acting as infantry. Officers and senior NCOs can pick up on professional development other than counter-insurgency. We can develop equipment for conventional warfare and not for counter-insurgency. We can add new units and buy new equipment.
