Bombarding the enemy from a distance is nice work if you can get it. But if there's not a job opening for that, we'll have to close with and destroy the enemy in a hard fight. Can we?
The U.S. isn't ready for war with basic weapons but looks for super weapon solutions, per Senator Cotton (tip to Instapundit):
Current wars have exposed the Pentagon’s "brittleness and lack of resiliency, and that’s in part going back to the drawdown during the Clinton era." ...
“In Congress, when people think about technology as it applies to security, they think too much about whiz-bang keystroke warriors, that somehow you’re going to win wars just with cyber attacks or with hashtags.” He shakes his head. “It always gets down to men under arms in the mud on the ground killing their enemies until their enemies submit to their will.” ...
"The technology that matters most is technology that enables the soldiers who are out in front of the spear and makes it safer for them." ...
“It’s like pulling teeth to get the DOD to focus on what’s needed to fight and win the wars. Ukraine is a reminder that that kind of warfare has not vanished from the earth. There’s still going to be battlefields. There’s still going to be the infantry in the army that have to close with and destroy the enemy, to fire and maneuver as opposed to big brains sitting back in Washington, D.C., clacking away on keyboards and all of a sudden, you compel a nation to submit to your will.”
Not that advanced weapons aren't great, the senator said. But they aren't silver bullets that eliminate the muddy, bloody reality of war.
I worried about the Clinton gee-whiz focus. That focus is not enough for long wars, I wrote just before Russia invaded Ukraine. I worried
about the Obama "Ten Year Rule". Which gave us a scare on ammunition reserves that apparently didn't teach us anything prior to the Winter War of 2022.
But I thought we had at least decided to upgrade our infantry. What happened to the Close Combat Lethality Task Force that I thought would focus on improving our long-neglected infantry? Is that program dead?
The task force is still there. Does the Pentagon know that?
Will we have infantry backed by firepower able to fight and win rather than expensive weapons that can carry out "clean" drive-by bombardments?
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
NOTE: I'm adding updates on the Last Hamas War in this post.
