Robert Burns, the Associated Press’ military reporter, brings up an interesting question with an article this afternoon: are there enough troops to go around?
President Bush’s decision to put thousands of active-duty soldiers and Marines on Hurricane Katrina relief duty adds a new dimension to the enormous strain on the military from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Senior military officers said Saturday they have plenty of troops to handle their wide range of missions at home and abroad, and they discounted suggestions that the urgent deployment of soldiers and Marines to the Gulf Coast would interfere with the rotation of combat troops in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nevertheless, as Reuters’ Will Dunham notes, the Pentagon is bringing some Louisiana guardsmen home.
The U.S. military will send home from Iraq and Afghanistan more than 300 Air Force airmen based at an installation in Mississippi battered by Hurricane Katrina to allow them to assist their families, officials said on Saturday.
The airmen, both active-duty airmen and reservists, will end their deployments early and return to Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, to help their families and aid in base recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Air Force said in a statement released in Qatar. They will not be participating in the broader relief effort in the region, officials said.
In addition, nearly 100 airmen due to deploy from Keesler to Iraq and Afghanistan will remain at the base, with their positions overseas filled by others in the Air Force not affected by the hurricane, the Air Force said.
While Pentagon officials are quick to note that they have enough troops to handle the situations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Southern United States, I’m just not so sold. What would happen right now were there to be a major terrorist attack on top of these situations? Do we have the troops to handle another hurricane in the region — which remains a distinct possibility? What if North Korea or China or Iran took assertive steps against their neighbors right now? Would we still have enough troops in their mind? These are questions that need to be raised. They are also questions that must be seriously answered.
also posted to my blog at Basie.org
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