BCT Editorial – 8/20/07

This page was last updated on August 27, 2007.

Military’s state; Editorial; Beaver County Times; August 20, 2007.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“A top-ranking general has mentioned the ‘D’ word in public, which is an indication that the current and future state of the Army has some top-ranking officers concerned.

“In a Aug. 10 interview with National Public Radio’s ‘All Things Considered,’ Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft.

“Lute’s words have some import because he is President Bush’s so-called war czar. In his post as a deputy national security adviser, he is responsible for ensuring that efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are coordinated with policymakers in Washington.

“Of course, his draft statement came with some dodges. He acknowledged that restoring the draft, which was abolished in 1973, would represent a major policy shift, that the president opposes the idea and that the current all-volunteer military is working exceptionally well.

“It’s the future that has Lute concerned.

“The Associated Press reported the general told NPR that repeated deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan affect not only the troops but their families, who can influence whether a service member decides to stay in the military.

“‘There’s both a personal dimension of this, where this kind of stress plays out across dinner tables and in living room conversations within these families,’ he said. ‘And ultimately, the health of the all-volunteer force is going to rest on those sorts of personal family decisions.’

“Gen. George Casey, the Army’s chief of staff, echoed Lute’s concerns when he spoke to reporters at the National Press Club on Tuesday. The Army’s top general said lengthening U.S. tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan beyond the current 15 months would be too stressful and risky for troops.

“The AP reported Casey also is worried because long and repeated battlefield tours have knocked the Army out of balance so that it can no longer provide ready forces as quickly as it should for other missions.

“‘We’re consumed with meeting the current demands and we’re unable to provide ready forces as rapidly as we would like for other contingencies, nor are we able to provide an acceptable tempo of deployments to sustain our soldiers and families for the long haul,’ Casey said.

“The stress is taking a personal toll on the troops. Last year, 99 soldiers on active duty killed themselves, the highest rate of suicide in the Army in 26 years.

“Because of the Bush administration’s blunders, a first-class military organization is in danger of disintegrating before our very eyes. To prevent that from happening, the American people must support the military, especially the Army and Marines Corps, as it regroups, revitalizes and rearms while being bogged down in Iraq.”

[RWC] “[D]isintegrating?” Has the author given up on the tried and true “ground down” and “ground up” descriptions we usually read in Times editorials?

“A major part of that recovery entails sufficient numbers of Americans voluntarily signing up for service in the Army and Marines Corps. If they don’t, Lute already had floated the ‘D’ word.”

[RWC] Actually, the editorial gives Gen. Lute too much credit on this issue.

Democrats have been pushing for a draft since 2003. The two service bills introduced as a political stunt in January 2003 were written and sponsored solely by Democrats. When Republicans finally called the Democrat bluff, the House version of the bill was defeated 402-2. Even the bill’s author, Charles Rangel (D-NY) voted against it. The only two reps who voted for the bill? You guessed it, two Democrats, Murtha of Pennsylvania and Stark of California.

The Times too deserves credit. There have been at least four Times editorials since 2005 pushing for a military draft. The ones I know of were entitled “Role model”, “Staying power” “Out of sight,” and “Universal soldiers.” I wonder why the Times didn’t toot its horn?