What is the "breaking point" of the military?

Question

In the news recently, we often hear that our armed forces are being stretched to "the breaking point". I understand what is meant by them being streatched too thin. A finite amount of soldiers and resources are being over worked and spread out over too large of an area.
But what is the breaking point? And what does it mean to then say that the military is "broken". Does it mean that's when we have lost? When all soldiers are dead (can't be this)? When we start losing battles? When we lose captured territory?

If we reach the breaking point, what does this mean for all of us, at home and abroad?

Just to clear up some confusion. I am not saying we are at a breaking point, or near one. I am neither supporting nor dercying the war. I simply want a definition of what is meant by "breaking point".

And please, no more of this "the left is defeatist", and "the media is ruining us" stuff. It's not an answer. Top military and government officials have been saying this. It's not some media invented buzzword. If anything its a military and political buzzword. I just want the definition.

Answer 1

Good question. The "breaking point" you are hearing about is when soldiers get out of the military at the earliest opportunity. Whenever the military signs up say:100,000 troops for 4 years they can count on the fact that several thousand will wash out, many more will be kicked out, many will serve honorably and then leave at the end of 4 years, and then a few more thousand will stay for 20 years or more. The real problem starts when everyone gets out or gets tired of serving.

The problem is that we only have slightly over 500,000 active duty troops and another 500,000 national guard and reserve troops in the Army. Maintaining 140,000+ troops in Iraq and thousands in Afghanistan for one year at a time gives soldiers virtually no time at home to rest in between deployments. I knew guys who got back from Iraq in January and were back by August for another year. Reserve soldiers are deploying so often that they cannot keep their jobs on the homefront. Certain police departments in the US are becoming increasingly unable to patrol the streets because upwards of 20-30% of their police are serving in Iraq.

Like I stated above, when fewer and fewer soldiers reenlist after their 4 years you have a problem. Many soldiers in the Army have wives and children and when the wife gets fed up with her husband being gone too much she suddenly opposes further time in the Army and he gets out. Most guys in the Army will not continue their service if their wives are upset and many wives are upset about constantly being alone. How can reservist continue to serve when their primary civilian careers are suffering so badly. Most reservists never dreamed they would be gone for years at a time, and they have no choice but to get out. Many women in the military are also getting pregnant to avoid deployments, which causes the unit to suffer since they can't fill the position she left open very easily.

What a lot of people don't know is that on any given day in Iraq we have over 140,000 people in Iraq and thousands in Afghanistan and that many thousands of them are over there unders stop-loss orders meaning they are being forced to stay in the military past the amount of time they signed up for, hence a mini-draft. These people are going to leave the minute they get the chance. So when the 140,000 troops come back to the states 30,000-40,000 immediately leave military service. Now you only have 100,000 to work with but you need 140,000 to send back again.

Also, on any given day we have the US Army deployed to over 100 different countries. We have equipment damaged everyday that is not replaced and many wounded soldiers that cannot be returned to active combat duty. Fewer and fewer soldiers are being required to take on more and more duty more often and they are getting tired of fighting a war with no end in sight. Basically, you are wearing out the Army faster than you are regenerating it. The war has simply turned into much more than our current military strength could handle.

That is what breaking the Army means and the 4 star Generals who are telling the government about it are deadly serious, because the moment our soldiers decide to leave military service our national defense is at risk. People can only take so much before they head for greener pastures somewhere else.

Ultimately the problem goes into more than I can possibly explain here such as unit manning and inadequate training, but the problem really stems from the Army being able to retain qualified experienced soldiers. One of the biggest problems we had in Vietnman was all the guys who had experience on the ground left the moment they had the chance and all the new guys were running around without a clue. That really hurts your bottom line. The military can always lose equipment and money but when you lose experienced soldiers you are finished!!!!! Guns don't fire themselves.

Answer 2

Broken Arrow is a (by now?) unclassified military code phrase, used to describe the type of situation involving a nuclear weapon. (There are several more, each describing a specific situation, but I have long since forgotten them, and, if I did remember, I would be hesitant to explain further.) The first time I heard that phrase used for a movie title on my car radio, I damn near drove off the road. (It was classified when I first learned it, at lest a decade earlier) Before the civilians got into the HazMat game, the Army was tasked with it. As a specialist in NBC warfare, I got the periodic priviledge of pulling a week's duty in charge of what was then known as an 'Atom Bravo' team, covering the tri-state area of Indiana, central and eastern Kentucky, and Ohio. Anything that went wrong -- a dropped nuke, a barge accident involving chemicals or other hazardous material, a truck wreck, a derailment, what have you, my team got the call to go out and survey the area. Our job was to survey the extent of the damage (and the possible threats), and then mark it. and report it. Our higher HQ then worked up wind predictions, etc., and determined who had to be evacuated. The phrase would be called to us at our alert site, and gave us time to start preparing for the specific mission before the detailed orders showed up (hand-carried). I don't know if the current HazMat crowd (mostly, your local FD's now) use the same code phrases. I would guess they do. wsulliva

Answer 3

What they mean by the breaking point is they don't have enough troops to rotate them on a reasonable enough basis for them to recuperate from the intense stress and fatigue of going through long periods without a break which we all need . This can lead to mental harm being suffered by many of the troops to varying degrees up too and including complete mental breakdown for some. So they must absolutely not allow this to happen to these men and women , it must be extensively avoided to maintain a properly fit fighting force otherwise mass desertions will start and havoc will reign. These men and women are much to valuable to allow this even if it came to pulling them out to live and fight another day , we just simply can't let it go that far , we can't afford too for their sake and ours. I would reinstate the draft before throwing our fighting men and women to the wolves and allowing them to reach the breaking point which would in a sense be doing just that .

Answer 4

military is broken when all our strength is being wasted in one (senseless) point and then "poof" all of the sudden some place else like...say, North Korea decides to really use a Nuke but we cant do anything about it as well as we normally would have prior to the iraq debacle because all of our resources have been wasted financially as well as our soldiers have been put to the breaking point... the financial comments are a joke...it is very interesting how the money trails trace back to the people in our current administration...

Answer 5

The media thinks too little and tells too much. What kind of message are we sending our enemies. "We are ready for an attack" or maybe "come hit us here". The U.S. is not even close to being "too thin". We have many good and outstanding people in this country who would stand up and fight if needed to. Everyone can be counted to help when the time is needed. The media likes to help support their personal agenda of money and more and more by telling this. Not to spread the "truth" around, They care only about money. That is all.

Answer 6

stress at which a person breaks down or a situation becomes crucial

Answer 7

the degree of tension or stress at which something breaks

Answer 8

The 110th congress.

Answer 9

I'm not comment your question just watch this video
and find your answer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRk-MgT-gmY&mode=related&search=

Answer 10

It means the liberals in the news media don't have a fat clue what they are talking about.