9/14    What is the size of US armed forces anyway?  I thought US has
        more than 300k troops.  Aside from cost, why people say US forces
        are strech thin?
        \_ the more funding you give to the armed forces, the more it'll
           spend on war. the more it spends on war, the more money it'll
           need. 300K troop is not enough. Neither is 1 million. It's
           never enough.
           \_ It's the purpose of the armed forces to be prepared for war.
              The more they have, they better prepared they can be.  This
              is common sense to most people.  Let's just scrap the entire
              military and save a buck.  Would that make you happy, comrade?
        \_ Political gain.
        \_ around 150k forces depolyed in Iraq alone, probably more in Kuwait
           to support them, that's a pretty sizeable chunk of that 300k.  When
           you consider that you need local troops, troops at premenent bases
           like in Europe and Japan, well gee, that seems pretty stretched
           to me.  Add to that the fact that it is an all volenteer army that
           has been seeing recruitment and reenlistment rates plumet... see
           the problem yet?
           \_ There are more than 300k troops.  That's a ridiculously small
              number so the rest of what you're saying is silly.  Also, all
              4 branches easily met and exceeded quota since 9/11.
           \_ Where do you get your figures for recruitment rates?  My
              understanding is the army had no problems filling their quotas
              after 9/11 (and the very successful baghdad blitz helped).
              The army's main problem is money, not men.
                \_ I thought they had cash a-plenty, but that a lot of it
                   was wasted on pork-barrel projects, like the V-22 and
                   strategically pointless bases, rather than on boring things
                   like training and spare parts.  -John
                   \_ Different budgets.  Lack of spare parts in the US Army
                      means they can't strip and replace every part on every
                      M1-A2 active in the field while on the front at the same
                      time.  You'll note the lack of any reports of soldiers
                      unable to complete missions due to lack of spares.
           \_ can they mobilize all the national guards for Iraq,
              leaving just skeleton personel for bases in USA, and
              throw everyone at Iraq so the situation there could get
              stablized more quickly?
                \_ They've done that to some degree.  All our gate guards
                   are National Guardspeople at Kirtland AFB, NM.  --PeterM
                \_ more people won't help in Iraq.  They're doing ok in most
                   of the country.  The reports of trouble from Iraq are *all*
                   from a small section of the country that was always hard
                   core pro-saddam.  Go check a map every time they report an
                   event.  It's always something just north or north west of
                   baghdad. That's prime we-love-the-president-day real estate.
                   \_ yea, the rest are all peace loving shiite mullahs, just
                      like their brothers in Iran.
        \_ ~ 2 million for all branches.