The Case for Enhancing US Military Might

BREAKING NEWS

Trump plans to seek major increase in defense spending, signaling a shift away from concerns about deficits
President Trump’s proposed 2019 budget would increase Pentagon spending by more than 7 percent over the 2018 budget, which still has not passed through Congress. It would cover the defense agency’s annual budget as well as spending on ongoing wars and the maintenance of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

• By Greg Jaffe and Damian Paletta
• 14 minutes ago

Trying to expand the size of the armed forces while modernizing it is an incredibly expensive and difficult thing to do.

Before anything else is done, the US Armed Forces either need to focus exclusively on one or the other. Until that's decided, there's nothing to this but wasting money.

Jas. Mattis has said from his first day as secdef that current military spending trajectories are "unsustainable." The focus is on the Army which continues to be downsized.

From the Aspen Institute....


For practical reasons, the slimming of the US armed forces begins with the Army. We are witnessing the ongoing reordering of the international system, which is not only adjusting to China but also to the emergence of a number of regional powers -- challenges that seem unlikely to call for a large land army. “The US is not going to send large ground forces to other countries to do nation building, so it’s important to reduce troop numbers, beginning with bringing them back to pre-9/11,” says Lawrence Korb, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC and a former Assistant Secretary of Defense. “The focus should be on air-sea battles, with the Navy taking first priority, the Air Force taking second priority, and with an emphasis on Special Forces, who are small and nimble and not that expensive to begin with.”

[T]here seems to be a certain degree of consensus in Washington, among experts and the Pentagon leadership overall, about the way forward. The outline is that of a US military no longer taking on the role of the world’s cop, or playing nation building abroad, but rather developing flexible, technologically innovative, rapid-deployment forces that can be quick in and out of a crisis and can effectively confront non-conventional threats such as international terrorism.

https://www.aspeninstitute.it/aspenia-online/en/article/downsizing-us-military




Urban combat: The Army's next frontier


This has huge implications for armies and specifically the U.S. Army, Chief of Staff General Mark A. Milley said at an event hosted by the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C.


"The U.S. Army has been optimized to fight in rural terrain, to fight in plains of northern Europe, North America and deserts in the Middle East," which has implications for how they organize and equip themselves, Gen. Milley said. "It’s highly probable that the next military forces armed conflict will occur in highly dense urban complex terrain, physical terrain," General Milley advised.

Other implications for urban battle mean that equipment such as tank barrels or UAV wingspans will have to be adjusted. Command and control and communication could be challenging with reinforced concrete that could interfere with signals.

"As we go forward," Milley said, "we’re probably going to have to shift gears significantly in the coming decade or so to optimize the Army," as well as all land forces to include the Marines, to operate successfully in highly dense, complex urban areas. [/I]

https://www.c4isrnet.com/c2-comms/2017/05/04/urban-combat-the-army-s-next-frontier/


Gen Milley served three tours in Afghanistan to include Commanding General, International Security Assistance Force Joint Command and was Deputy Commanding General, U.S. Forces Afghanistan; he was also deputy CG 101st Airiborne (air assault). In Operation IRAQI FREEDOM Gen. Milley commanded units of the 5th Special Forces Group. Gen Milley;s command included 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division.

So it's no wonder nobody back in Washington knew him except former SecDef Robert Gates who speaks highly of him....


Potus Obama nominated Gen. Milley CSA in July 2015. Gen. Milley was advanced ahead of senior candidates.


“Anybody who knows him will say he is a soldier’s soldier, absolutely the best of the Army today,” Leed told me. “He’s a no-bull****, get-stuff-done kind of guy, who cares about people and wants to do the right thing.”

“He comes across as a tough guy — and he is,” she said. “He’s physically imposing, he’s brusque, [and] he seems like he’s going to break your neck whenever he sees you, but he’s not.” “I’ve never seen him break anyone’s neck,” Leed continued thoughtfully, “but I know if I ever needed somebody’s neck broken — and they deserved it — he’s the guy.”

“Mark Milley is a very direct person,” Leed said. He calls things like he sees ’em and he does not mince words — but he’s got a sophisticated understanding of how the world works, so he’s not naïve…. He pays attention and he has an open mind.” The question is whether a mind that could grasp Afghanistan can manage the treacherous world of Washington.

https://breakingdefense.com/2015/05...soldiers-soldier-from-far-beyond-the-beltway/