Don't Rush to Gut Ground Forces by Nathan Freier, AOL Defense.
… Wonder weapons and special operators are back in vogue. Land conflicts and the capabilities essential to their prosecution are passé again, as contemporary defense wisdom holds that future land wars will fall on the shoulders of foreign forces raised from scratch by American advisers. The new logic argues that direct U.S. defense responsibilities can be limited to containing China, coercing badly behaving rogues like Iran, and relentlessly hunting down the remnants of al Qaeda and its affiliates. If true, substantial savings are available through significant cuts to the Army and Marine Corps.
Frankly, the alternative view isn't getting a fair hearing. Some additional post-war ground force reductions may be inevitable. Nonetheless, renewed commitment to the same high-tech off-shore balancing strategy advocated at the start of the last administration and drastic ground force reductions associated with it may unnecessarily limit future U.S. military options…
Comments
In response to the "gutting of our ground forces", would it make sense for the US and some of our allies to pool our resources and create a standing combined force, like the Franco-German BDE? Perhaps a "NATO Brigade" made up of battalions from the US, Canada, UK....?
The USMC recently established a Law Enforcement Battalion designed to assist host-nation forces in re-establishing stability & Rule-of-Law, and assist in developing host-nation security forces, similar to what the Army's Constabulary Groups did in post WW2 Germany/ Austria. Would it make sense to re-activate such units, which might mitigate (somewhat) the reduction in overall manpower while maximizing remaining manpower and, especially, experience? Could the above-mentioned "NATO Brigade" be designed and used in such a fashion? This would leverage capabilities from various sources (as well as cost) while enabling us to make use of host-nation forces first before having to commit a large number of our own forces.