How much damage have the Republicans done to our military ?

[kentuck]

There is no way possible that morale can be high in a war zone when some people have been sent back 3 or 4 times. The mental stress is just too much for any healthy relationships. The demands made by this Administration on the military is unreal. The military needs to know it doesn't have to be that way. There's a better way to fight terrorism than hunting "insurgents" in Baghdad. Democrats need to let these people know there is a better way. Nobody deserves to be treated the way these troops have been treated. They are serving as American soldiers to protect our country - not as paid mercenaries to protect Halliburton and Big Oil. That is not their job. Bring them home.

[indepat]

1. How much damage have Repugs done to the military, the fiscal integrity

of the Federal government, the environment, the international order, institutions, treaties, and goodwill, and the safety net are some of the bigger questions.

[EVDebs]

8. A buddy sent me these two quotes today and I'm ROFLOL

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security,
unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
--President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1952
>
And from the Sunday Oregonian,
>
"Other than telling us how to live, think, marry, pray, vote, invest,
educate our children, and, now, die, I think the Republicans have done a fine job of getting government out of our personal lives."

[indepat]

10. I often remind my wife of what one of her cousins had said in 1952

proffering Ike would surely turn over in his grave because of what later Republicans have done to this country, its Constitution, the rule of law, the fiscal soundness of the Federal government, the environment, and its people.

[IndianaGreen]

2. Keep the troops in Iraq until "victory" and "democracy" is achieved

and there won't be any troops left to bring home.

[chieftain]

3. Tremendous damage. Not only the obvious loss of trops

and materiel, but Rummy has inflicted massive harm to the command structure by dumping officers who buck his warped world view.

[Independent_Liberal]

4. A shitload of damage...

They've been so incompetent when it comes to military. They don't care about our troops. Democrats are the only ones who know what they're doing. They care about the troops. More Democrats have served than Republicans. That's a fact.

[Imagevision]

5. Meanwhile morale is lower then shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jmowreader]

6. I think they broke it

When the Big Dog was in office, the Republicans had a field day with the notion that two Army divisions, if called to battle, would have to report "Not ready for duty, sir."

One of the two divisions was the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), and the time that the Repugs said this was right after we got back from Bush the Smarter's little welcoming gift to Bill Clinton. I don't remember the other one, but do know that at least one or two divisions are always not mission capable. That's unavoidable.

Today, if you compared the 10 remaining active duty divisions against the Army's readiness standard, none of them would be able to report "Ready for duty, sir."

They've been shot to shit. They're low-to-out of every kind of repair part. Many units are missing key personnel--they're dead and buried. Sure they're muddling through in Iraq, as soldiers always will, but "muddling" and being ready to go to war, right now, are two different things.

Once Bush's little tantrum is over and all the people who got us into it have been imprisoned (preferably in Abu Ghraib, with Iraqi guards), it will take at least ten years of Reagan-level spending to get the military back to where it should be.

[sakabatou]

7. Too much

[El Fuego]

9. Recruitment quotas are way down. What will they do when NO ONE enlists?

Logically they would need to reinstate the draft, but no president is going to be willing to take that political hit. So where does that leave us?