The U.S. Military's Manpower Crisis

Bibliographic Data

ID9827293
AuthorsFrederick W Kagan (corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume85
Issue4
Pages97
Publication date2006-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueForeign Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0015-7120 • E-ISSN: 2327-7793
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/20032044
OpenAlexW2566785651
LanguageEN
Citations received4

THREE HUNDRED forty-five million dollars can, roughly speaking, buy one F-22 Raptor-the U.S. military's new stealth fighter plane-or pay the average annual cost of 3,000 soldiers (although it would cost far more to equip, maintain, and deploy either the fighter or the troops). The soldiers are a better investment. Yet U.S. military personnel, pundits, and policymakers have been downplaying the importance of ground forces since 1991. Even today, in the face of ongoing, manpower-intensive counterinsurgency campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush admin istration is emphasizing long-range strike capabilities over land forces. The recently released 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review and the presi dent's budget proposal for fiscal year 2007 both reaffirm this priority. The administration has maintained this emphasis despite the fact that the long-term neglect of U.S. ground forces has caused serious problems in the Iraqi and Afghan campaigns. If not corrected, moreover, this ne glect will cause even worse problems in the future. War is fundamentally a human activity, and attempts to remove humans from its center-as recent trends and current programs do-are likely to lead to disaster

Business · Civil–military relations · Development economics · Economic policy · Economics · Political science · Politics · Russian federation · Law · Military and Defense Studies · Public Administration

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub