I agree with what you have said, Fred. Over some years now, I have thought about this and concluded, we are going to have to re-institute the draft, just to have warm bodies what we used to call cannon fodder.

I am in favor of mandatory military service for ALL American young people, men AND women. It will be hell to get such a bill thru the Congress, but it seems to me, that is where we will eventually wind up.

Mandatory military service means just that in my lexicon. No deferments for any reason. No choices, such as the Peace Corp instead of the military. You WILL serve in the military. If your health or physical condition is not up to field duty, then you will be placed at a desk, or in the Quartermaster Corp, (Is there still a Quartermaster Corp???) or in some such position as a member of the support troops. That alone would free up a lot of troops for field duty.

We need more Special Ops guys. Many more.

The war is going to go on indefinitely. If not in Iraq and Afghanistan, then somewhere else around the globe. I am convinced that we are at the threshold of the longest war in the history of mankind. If we expect to remain a free people, then we are going to have to continue the fight. To do that, we are going to have to have a much larger m military than we have today.

I know this is not a pretty picture, but, in my estimation, it is accurate or very nearly so.

Longstreet