Kingpin,
Can you name the military exercise that proves British, Canadian, German, and Israeli troops are better trained than Americans? Most joint exercises and games that take place in Germany, the Americans usually win out. In addition, where were the British, German, and Canadian forces during the Kosovo Campaign? Due to lack of all weather capability for its fighters, and not Sattellite guided munitions, they had to sit on the sidelines during the campaign and the USA did nearly all the work. Only the British have any real global power projection capability, and its a tiny fraction of the USA. Still I feel that these countries including the USA need to better fund their militaries. Many people here don't understand that weapons and technology once built have to be upgraded or replaced eventually as new technology becomes available.
History has shown that when countries ignore their national security they become vulnerable to attack. The Massive defense spending of the Cold War by the USA and Allies helped prevent World War III. NATO has proved to be a massive success, both in the Cold War and Post Cold War in Europe. Never again will be go back to the days prior to World War II. The fact is, the more that is spent on defense, the less a country bleeds when it goes to war. The 1991 Gulf War is a perfect example. As for as your example with Nuclear Weapons, since the 1960s the US policy with Nuclear Weapons has been "Flexible Response". This means we will fight a conventianal attack with conventional means, nuclear with nuclear, although it does not completely for go the option of using nuclear weapons to combat a conventional attack. But essentially, the nuclear weapons we have are last resort weapons used only in retaliation for a nuclear attack.
My father served in the Military for 30 years and I have several friends in the military today. This and living in a military family has helped me realize the struggles that are men and women face in the US military. I want to see the best possible technology be devoloped on a constant basis for US weapons, because this gives are soldiers more power to successfully win conflicts in a shorter time frame there by reducing loss of life on both sides. Of course the better trained and equiped a military force is, the smaller the number of losses will be when its time for combat. Also many people don't realize that a large part of the military budget goes to pay the men and women who serve in the military. Many of which have families to support. When you look at defense spending, you need to look at the whole picture, and not just a lump sum of money. Peoples lives are directly effected when defense spending is cut in more ways than you can imagine. Yes, looking at the budget and the missions, training, weapons systems, and other capabilities, the US does need to increase military spending after the Clinton holiday years. There is a whole generation of weapon systems that have served us very very well but are now old and need to be replaced with new and better technology now available. I could list more things but I do not have time at the moment.
Can you name the military exercise that proves British, Canadian, German, and Israeli troops are better trained than Americans? Most joint exercises and games that take place in Germany, the Americans usually win out. In addition, where were the British, German, and Canadian forces during the Kosovo Campaign? Due to lack of all weather capability for its fighters, and not Sattellite guided munitions, they had to sit on the sidelines during the campaign and the USA did nearly all the work. Only the British have any real global power projection capability, and its a tiny fraction of the USA. Still I feel that these countries including the USA need to better fund their militaries. Many people here don't understand that weapons and technology once built have to be upgraded or replaced eventually as new technology becomes available.
History has shown that when countries ignore their national security they become vulnerable to attack. The Massive defense spending of the Cold War by the USA and Allies helped prevent World War III. NATO has proved to be a massive success, both in the Cold War and Post Cold War in Europe. Never again will be go back to the days prior to World War II. The fact is, the more that is spent on defense, the less a country bleeds when it goes to war. The 1991 Gulf War is a perfect example. As for as your example with Nuclear Weapons, since the 1960s the US policy with Nuclear Weapons has been "Flexible Response". This means we will fight a conventianal attack with conventional means, nuclear with nuclear, although it does not completely for go the option of using nuclear weapons to combat a conventional attack. But essentially, the nuclear weapons we have are last resort weapons used only in retaliation for a nuclear attack.
My father served in the Military for 30 years and I have several friends in the military today. This and living in a military family has helped me realize the struggles that are men and women face in the US military. I want to see the best possible technology be devoloped on a constant basis for US weapons, because this gives are soldiers more power to successfully win conflicts in a shorter time frame there by reducing loss of life on both sides. Of course the better trained and equiped a military force is, the smaller the number of losses will be when its time for combat. Also many people don't realize that a large part of the military budget goes to pay the men and women who serve in the military. Many of which have families to support. When you look at defense spending, you need to look at the whole picture, and not just a lump sum of money. Peoples lives are directly effected when defense spending is cut in more ways than you can imagine. Yes, looking at the budget and the missions, training, weapons systems, and other capabilities, the US does need to increase military spending after the Clinton holiday years. There is a whole generation of weapon systems that have served us very very well but are now old and need to be replaced with new and better technology now available. I could list more things but I do not have time at the moment.
