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No. Military budgets should be cut 50%. And end all wars immediately. Too bad Obama does not have the balls to do either.
Obama is just one man. To think he could cut or end anything to do with the military obtuse. There is a large push for militarization from different sources in the US. Basically speaking...US military gets the rich richer by means of contracts etc etc.
Yes, the Army has light units they can deploy quickly, but not their armor, mechanized infantry, or their artillery. While the Marine Corps can deploy everything they have just as quickly as the Army light units and be far better prepared for combat.
We just discussed above the Marines use the same heavy main battle tanks as the Army does. Those can be deployed one at a time by USAF to an area with a large landing strip. Airborne units can airdrop their artillery, and the supporting armor can be brought in just as quickly as the Marines can.
I read once that the first units in place in Saudi Arabia Iraq invaded Kuwait was the 82nd Airborne division, six days.
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One more advantage the Marine Corps has over the Army are the forward deployment areas, such as Guam, Okinawa, Diego Garcia, etc. That way they can be quickly supplied should an immediate deployment be required.
The US Army has forward deployment areas as well, and Diego supplies all branches. Either way this seems more an argument for merging the branches than against.
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No, they cannot. The Army can only deploy light units into combat quickly. They are not able to face sustained combat either. What the Army can deploy within 24 hours is by no means comparable to what the Marines can deploy.
Yes, they can. Before they retired the Sheridan tank the 18th Airborne could have tanks on the ground faster than the Marines as they could airdrop them from C-130s. They can airdrop artillery.
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Since the Marines have gone with the M1, then they must have C5s or C17s to deploy them. Otherwise it would completely defeat the primary purpose of the Marine Corps, to be first in combat.
They don't, and they only C-130s they fly are refuelers. USMC relies on USAF for heavy lifting, just like the US Army.
I question why we need the capacity to deploy anywhere. Why in hell are we building bases in these places anyway? Like somebody said the cold war is over. It is past time to cut our military from attacking the Soviet Union to defending our own borders. We cannot afford to continue to be the cops of the world or continue our defacto Imperial nightmare.
We need to shift our military spending to rebuilding our domestic infrastructure. We need better bridges not better bullets.
If anything, Iraq has shown us an even greater need for the Marine Corps. We need forward deployed forces that can take the ground. Once we have done so, then and only then does the Army move in.
When Iraq invaded Kuwait and we rushed to defend Saudi Arabia the only boots on the ground ahead of the US Army were USAF flight operations personnel. The 82nd Airborne was on the ground within six days, and the first armor (one of the Army's mech infantry units) was on the ground by August 20th.
Point being, rapid reaction isn't limited to USMC.
I question why we need the capacity to deploy anywhere. Why in hell are we building bases in these places anyway? Like somebody said the cold war is over.
I believe we do need the capacity to deploy anywhere, but your second point is certainly a good one as we have a cold war presence in numbers especially in Europe that is expensive and unneeded.
Why do we need to protect any other country? How does protecting the Saudi Royals from being taken over by the Iranians benefit us? How does protecting Israel from all of Arabia help us? How does protecting the Eurozone from Gadaffy help us. Let the fools fight their own wars.
Last edited by GregW; 09-23-2011 at 07:41 AM..
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