Get Real on Military Readiness by Admiral John C. Harvey Jr. at War on the Rocks.
… We have seen an ocean of ink spilled over such weighty questions as how big (or small) the Army should be, how many ships (and what type) the Navy should have, should the Air Force divest itself of entire fleets of current aircraft to make room for new procurement, etc. It’s a pretty long and impressive list containing most of the things we like to argue with each other about. And, in this town, things (aircraft, ships tanks, vehicles and missiles) have powerful advocates—things are built in congressional districts and building things provides jobs and helps drive economic development.
However, coming up with the why we need to develop, build and deploy these various things is a much more challenging task and one that this town does not do very well at all…
Comments
I left the comment on WOTR but I will leave it here too
"I have often felt that we look at these problems from the aspect of capabilities – what equipment does any and every potential enemy posses and what equipment do I need to defeat it – apposed to what will I be expected to accomplish – what is my political objective. When applied to real world threats there is very little equipment we need, but our doctrine is still severely lacking in how to eliminate hiding places for groups adverse to American interests (i.e. Islamic extremists and terrorists). We need to stop looking at capabilities and start looking at what the most likely situation will be where US military forces will be expected to act and what the the desired political outcome is likely to be – the most probable course of action rather than the most dangerous course of action."