What are the biggest problems within the U.S. military now?

Answer 1

The biggest problem for the military is - YOU! Have you enlisted yet or were you enlisted? Maybe the old Starship Troopers adage of "Service = Citizenship" should apply.

The military has become too sensitive to world/public opinion has shaped its response (rules of engagement) to meet the court of public opinion. Granted rules of engagement quickly are tossed aside when the rubber hits the road - the mere thought of engaging only when engaged is bogus.

There is an old saying of "betting your bar" to do the right thing. Many of our senior leaders have allowed themselves to do the "politically correct" thing by keeping their mouths shut when they should have done otherwise.

Additionnally Congress/media is the blame - everyone expects a Nintendo type war of no American losses and the bad guys throw up their hands in surrender. It ain't that way. Having all of the nay sayers in Congress trying to second guess a grunt on the ground is not only an abuse of power but total grandstanding. The media hardly ever shows the success - just the saying of it bleeds- it leads.

Money and parts are available - it doesn't take much for us loggies to come up with the answers. But the military is suffering from 10 years (two budget cycles) for new equipment. One only needs to take a look at WWII when we put M4's against Tigers, M16s without chromed bores etc... We have always had the problem of fighting the current war with yesterday's stuff.

The soldiers need your support they are doing the job under tremendous constraints.

Answer 2

The biggest problem with the military is that they have been stetched too thin. We don't have the fighting force that we used to in the combat arms. We are in too many countries around the world with not enough troops. This is why a lot of the soldiers have had to do multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We need to take a step back, and get at least 100,000 more combat troops, not truck drivers and lawyers. That's only if we have enough fighters left in society.
Recruiters are trying to sign people up, but most are so overweight or out of shape they have to go through training even before they get to basic training. They don't even have Physical Education classes in school anymore! Put down the chips and soda and do some pushups.
The military comes up with too many gadgets and smart guy stuff. As soon as they knock out your satellites, you won't know what to do. We need more tanks, and people behind rifiles.
The media doesn't help either. Everything that is reported is some civilian getting killed over there, or a soldier getting killed by a roadside bomb. Sure that is a horrible thing, but pales in comparison to past wars. People die in war, but maybe if the politicians would do their jobs, we could avoid this. If a democrat was president, all the media would report is that we haven't done anything wrong over there. Maybe they should get behind a rifle.
Billy Clinton being President sure didn't help either. He got rid of countless military units because, democrats believe we don't need a strong military. If we don't bother them, they won't bother us right? Wrong.
Bring the troops home, and concede defeat. I think not. We need more fighters, not clerks and cooks. I read an article in the local paper saying a National Guardsmen didn't know he would have to go to Iraq, that's not why he signed up. Well what did you think? Just two weekends a month I guess. Let's try and look at the big picture.

Answer 3

The Army is a very large institution with an uncountable amount of moving parts so for problems to not happen would be impossible, but if i had to name one thing would say its the media.Those who always want to show the horrors of the war and continuously post the death toll they feed of the tragedies of others and profit from it. Yes one of the things that makes our country great is free speech but personally i am sick of seeing such one sided reporting from the media. Free speech aside if millions of people look to you for news about whats going on in the world then don't you have the responsibility to show the whole story and not just what you think will pull in the ratings, its just as bad as the Anna Nicole smith or Paris Hilton coverage i know we are doing good things in Iraq day by day its not so much the big picture we can change in a day but the little pictures and American and coalition forces are winning a great number of small pictures every day in Iraq and Afghanistan

Answer 4

As usual, too much politics.Everytime a soldier does something he has to turn around and see if a lawyer is there taking notes. I only wish I could see our current Rules of Engagement. Without going into detail my son's friends who are still in the Corps feel hampered by the ROE at times. Have the politicians and Joint Chiefs of Staff given clear combat assignments at all levels? In recent history our troops have done everything that has been asked of them regardless of how they felt upon the politics.

Answer 5

There are many problems but the biggest problem i've noticed is the horrible healthcare. No matter what is wrong with you, all the "doctors" give you is Motrin, nothing ever gets fixed. Plus you get treated like absolute garbage while you are waiting for the crappy service!

Answer 6

Tired of being deployed. After wars soldiers get out...it deteriorates our armed services. A glimmer of hope, an end in sight, gives soldiers a morale boost....we need a goal, an ending. Right now all the problems are petty compared to the GWOT.

Answer 7

Bush not listening to the generals, firing them instead!

Lack of health care due to 100 billion dollar cuts Bush hit the VA Hospitals with while he gave tax cuts to those averaging between $800,030 and $26.5 million a year in income! And he wants to give them more!

Some of the military are on their third tours in Iraq, many were not let out of the service when their contract is up, being sent back to see if they could live another year!

The Army is failing to meet it's enlistment quotas which will mean longer tours! The generals wanted the imigration bill to pass so they could begin getting them into the military!

Private contracters get the money and the military still does not have armored vehicles! They work with them doing the same jobs at 1/6th the pay!

And Bush's policy in Iraq is failing. His push is falling apart and things are worse! They know it. Everyone with a brain knows it!

The bottom line is the Iraqis will not do what is necessary! I think they want Saddam back, and I wish we could give him back.

"With Congress on its July Fourth break, Domenici made his views known Thursday at a press conference in Albuquerque, N.M., though he said he has not talked to the administration about wanting a strategy shift.

"I have carefully studied the Iraq situation and believe we cannot continue asking our troops to sacrifice indefinitely while the Iraqi government is not making measurable progress to move its country forward," he said.

Domenici was elected in 1972 and is a senior member of a panel that oversees defense spending. He said at the news conference that parents of those killed in Iraq previously told him the United States should stay in Iraq as long as it takes. Now, he said, some parents have asked him to do more to bring the troops home sooner.

The senator said the situation in Iraq is getting worse. He said he now supports a bipartisan bill that embraces the findings of the independent Iraq Study Group."

Senior GOP senator abandons Iraq policy AP 7/6/07

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXATMnerBjI&mode=related&search=

They didn't lose the war, they had a totally flawed policy for the past 4 years! All the generals, including the current commanding general in Iraq, says that there is NO MILITARY SOLUTION! What is so damn hard about that to understand? You won't even believe the current commanding general and GOP Senators are falling of the Bush band wagon as fast as they can!

Bush screwed this one up the day he attacked a country that had nothing to do with terrorism or 9/11!

Bush should have listened to his father!

Answer 8

Size of the ranks. Rumsfeld and the Pentagon had cut the size of our forces over the last few years to save money. This has been a mistake.

Answer 9

Lack of support of the public is destroying morale. When people say they are against the war but support the troops, that is a lie. If you do not support what the troops are doing, you are killing their morale, and therefore causing more of them to die.

Answer 10

From the letters I receive from different soldiers the biggest problem they have is with the main stream media here at home and politicians who have said from the beginning that they have lost the war on terror. We give them prayer rugs and their bibles and even special food when we have them in captivity they terrorize our soldiers by beheading them and dragging their bodies through streets yet we are the bad guys. that's what pi**es them off more then anything.