America has been on notice since February 2022 that war consumes mass amounts of men and materiel. And it can last far longer than peacetime stockpiles of ammunition. We're still trying to digest that.
Yes:
[As European and Middle East wars show], the cost of even supporting protracted efforts is quite significant. The cost of engaging in and winning a protracted war would be massively higher.America's Ten-Year Rule crippled our ability to wage large-scale conventional operations on the ground, at sea, and in the air. And it affected our ability to fight even small campaigns:
We aren't even involved in high-intensity conventional warfare against a peer-ish military. Yet we are emptying warehouses earmarked for other potential theater of war to bomb one ragged group holding ground in Syria and Iraq?
Seriously?
And this is even worse because America maintains stocks of ammunition that serve as the reserve for our allies who as a rule do not maintain such stocks. We had to replenish allies in the Libya War in 2011 despite the weakness of Khadaffi's surviving military in that civil war.
And ammunition is just one measure of our lack of readiness that is finally catching up with our military. (Tip to Instapundt.)
But don't say we weren't warned. This poor readiness is just one effect of the modern ten year rule we launched in 2009[.]
We must rebuild the foundation for outlasting any enemies who wage war on us.
And we have to escort the supplies overseas to make that ability relevant.
It is expensive, but preparing to win is the best deterrence. And ultimately much cheaper in lives and money.
Don't go cheap on national defense. Young men jumping into the dark into swarms of enemies will only be the first to pay the price of lack of preparedness.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
NOTE: I'm adding updates on the Last Hamas War in this post.NOTE: You may also read my posts on Substack, at The Dignified Rant: Evolved. Go ahead and subscribe to it.
NOTE: I made the image with Bing.
