Are the US ARMY the worst in the world?

Question

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6962071.stm

You never here about this from our army!

They would not know the enemy if he jumped up and slapped him round the face.

Answer 1

This story appears to involve the British and either an American Air Force or Marine jet. The US Army was not involved. Are you just trying to disrespect the Army? I suspect so by your "slap" comment. It appears your mind is already made up. Let me see if you are open to a little appreciation for our military services. After all, you libs like to say you support the troops. Yeah, right.

Our Army and the rest of our military forces are the best the world has ever seen. They are the most trained, best equipped and most professional military service our country has ever see. Can Israel beat us? No way, our numbers outnumber them. Can China beat us? It would be a tough battle and many would die but perhaps our technology can withstand their numbers.

Our military stands up to agression around the world and are positioned all over the world to protect our interests. It is the men and women of our military that put their lives on the line to keep the communist Chinese from coming over here and invading our country. How would you feel if that happened? You would not be allowed to express your opinion of your government then or someone would visit you and put a bullet through your head. Our military allows you to decide what job you will do. Our military allows you to decide where you will live. Our military allows you to decide what car you will have. Our military allows you to decide what you will watch on TV. Our military allows you to decide how many children you will have. Our military keeps you out of a gulag or retraining camp because you might express a difference of opinion with your political leaders. If you want to see what your life would be like without our military, look at China or look at Afganastan under the taliban. Look at Nazi Germany and the holocaust. Look at Cuba today and the standard of living they have endured under communist Castro.

The US military forces are the best and most professional forces in the world. Unfortunately, errors happen in the heat of battle. What surprises me is that we don't hear about more of these incidents. But you libs look for any reason to criticise the military which stands between you and the Chinese 24/7.

Maybe you should drink a little less koolaid from the left and start trying to really support the troops. Hillary thinks they are good for little more than to serve drinks at some political party. That shows how professional they are. They could easily throw her under the bus and some military forces have committed coups just to dispose political leadership they don't agree with but not our guys. They are there to serve and protect and they will give their lives to do just that.

There is one enemy our military may not be strong enough to beat and that is the enemy from within. You libs are like a virus to freedom. You get in and eat out the middle of a thing and then whine and cry when you get just what you were asking for, communism. Instead of being just another koolaid drinker on the left, go over to China or go to Cuba and see if that's the life you think you want here.

If You can read this, thank a teacher.
If you are free today, thank a soldier.
If your taxes are too high, thank a politician.

Answer 2

In a conventional war, they are undoubtedly the best. Unfortunately, conventional war (two sides lining up in uniform at each other) no longer exists. War these days is, as Frank Kitson described it, low intensity operations, ie assymetrical warfare. Previously, a war had very definite aims, ie invade France, destroy Germany. These days the aims are very difficult to measure, such as bring peace to Iraq, make war on terrorists. This requires a paradigm shift which the US Army has not generally accepted, with some notable exceptions such as General Petraeus. The British Army spent 30 years diving around Northern Ireland, which at a guess is no greater than 5% land area of Iraq. From that, they learnt valuable lessons which perhaps the US should take note of. The political dimension cannot be ignored.

Answer 3

All you people answering this question criticizing the Military are a bunch of retarded civillians that don't know squat about the military. you just talk without thinking. how the hell are you going to cal the us army the worst , the same army that has defeated the germans twice, japanese kicked *** in nam the only thing holding the military back from annihalating enemies in nam and now in iraq are those retarded politics who worry about how we look if we did this or that, and all these know it all tree f*cking hippies

Answer 4

I am not sticking up for them but lets get things into perspective...........The Americans are the air power in Iraq and our guys are on the ground....There has been times when they have helped and assisted our troops when in a sticky fight.....The big problem is that our guys do not have the same technology that the Americans are using to identify friend or foe....so this leads to situations when errors are made........However the one thing the Americans have got right is the care and support of their soldiers...When my son came back from the first drive forward he said he had never seen a burger bar be built so quick in all his life right in the middle of the bloody desert lol but training not so hot......Everyone is losing sons, daughters....American and British lets just get them all home ........

Answer 5

these types of mistakes are the result of miscommunication between friendly forces, communication involves at least 2 parties. From this article there is no way to tell who was actually at fault. An f-15 pilot cannot tell taliban from uk troops at 10,000 feet. Perhaps the UK commanders failed to provide adequate info on troop locations, or perhaps it was neglect on the part of the US. Maybe a different british force mistook it's own forces for the enemy and used US air support to strike them. It is far to early to start passing blame on this incident.

the US has far more troops in the afghan theater, so as a whole, they are more likely to make a mistake, since they have far greater numbers.

these incidents are not restricted to other countries and US forces have attacked themselves several times. In the start of the Iraq war a US air force A-10 ripped apart a US marine unit with its 20mm gun.

and as you can see, british mistakenly kill their own as well:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,922141,00.html

this is not a solely american problem, the US has more incidents because it(always) has more troops and firepower in theater.

Answer 6

Umn, Just be fair, it was the US Air force that was involved. According to the article, it is because they are in the regular habit of relying on US air support. For the record, the US Army has no fighter aircraft. It is regrettable that this happened irregardless of who's planes were involved. My thoughts and prayers go out to their families.

Answer 7

'Mudmarine' how wrong you are. I served 2 tours in Iraq & 1 in Afghanistan, and despite the Americans having better equipment, (including protective gear), I hated it when I had to work with them.
They are great guys don't get me wrong, but they have an ethos of Gung-ho (ism?) that means they go charging in, all guns blazing before making a proper assessment of the situation. This OFTEN results in botched ops, and wounded or dead friendlies (including civilians).
The British make sure of their situation beforehand and consider any friendly casualties they may incur.
As for making our map-reading better - we use GPS the same as you do - in fact the kit is American! And every British soldier can route-find using just a map, whereas soldiers from the US need an NCO to show the way.

Answer 8

It's not a new problem - the most senior US casualty in WWII was an Air Force General bombed by his own planes.

At one point towards the end of the Normandy campaign the USAF had bombed so many of their allies that they were grounded until a new approach was worked out.

It stems from a lack of discipline - especially fire discipline, that pervades all US forces - privates iopening fire without orders - and without a target.

I don't know if its still the case in the UK, but it used to be the rule that on the firing range you handed i any left-over ammunition and the cases from the rounds you'd fired. Its still the case with our army - lose a cartridge case & you're in trouble - but Americans can get away with losing the whole rifle!

Answer 9

I'm curious. How many of you arm-chair quarterbacks have ever been under fire? Ever heard the term "fog of war".

As a former Reconnaissance Marine, let me assure you that once the lead starts flying, all theory goes out the f**kin' window. The reason we kill more friendlies? Law of probabilities. If you fly every week, you dramatically increase your chances of dying in a plane crash.

If you engage in combat more than everyone else, all your kill percentages increase.

Piece of advice -- the military doesn't lecture you guys on how to hide in your little bubbles and criticize. Don't lecture them on how efficiently they defend your sorry asses.

Answer 10

they are not the worst , in fact they are the second best right after the Vietnamese Peoples Army.
Based on factual combat record.