A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft releases flares during a training mission over North Carolina, Dec. 17, 2010. The aircraft is part of the 335th Fighter Squadron. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Michael B. KellerBusy With Afghanistan, the U.S. Military Has No Time to Train for Big Wars -- Daivid Wood, Politics Daily
We have learned through painful experience that the wars we fight are seldom the wars we planned. -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Feb. 1, 2010
Just after a cold, rainy dawn, a U.S. Army battalion under the command of Lt. Col. Charles B. Smith took up positions along a low Korean ridgeline with orders to stop the enemy tank columns racing toward them. The Americans were lightly armed draftees assigned to peacetime occupation duties in Japan. They'd never trained for major combat. But they wore the uniform of the most powerful nation on earth.
They expected a short skirmish: When the enemy saw who they were dealing with, the soldiers told themselves, they'd turn tail and flee. But the North Koreans who came lunging at them were not deterred that July morning in 1950. The GIs held out valiantly but finally shattered, stumbling into a retreat so hasty that they left their dead and wounded behind.
Read more ....
My Comment: I figure that even if U.S. forces suddenly leave leave Afghanistan and Iraq, huge budget deficits and equipment shortfalls will continue to hamper any meaningful training program for years to come .... and probably even longer.