Why isn't there more talk of the smoking gun memo?

[Ted Striker]

Couldn't have said it better myself Shawn. I agree 100%. The military guys must be seething right now after bad decision after bad decision.

Rapid deployment light infantry units. Where have we heard that before.

[MOBIUS]

[Mr. Harley]

Rapid deployment light infranty units get chewed up in regular conflicts, in insurgencies, in almost every damn application they are used. They ONLY legitimate use, IMHO (and in many experts opinions, also) is as a stop gap measure, when you don't have any or enough troops for an unexpected - sudden - unplanned military operation. You should NEVE use them to take the place of regular military units.

I haven't seen any recent TOE (table of organization and equipment) for those units, but one was published when Rumsfeld was first pushing for his military "restructuring". They have no organic artillery. MORONS. Air Power is nice, but in certain weather conditions it is simply not available, and very seldom do they keep it available continuously, and even when they do it typically consists of a limited number of airstrikes.

Regular artillery, now typically M19A6 155mm SP (self-propelled) has a range of 30 km with a 105lb round. That's for the Paladin, the Crusader has an even better range. The Paladin can fire four rounds per minute, with the first round on target in slightly under 60 seconds. That means that a battery of six can fire 2430 pounds per minute. Which does not have to worry about being shot down, and adjacent batteries within 30 km (with even more range with certain enhanced munitions) can also lend fire support.

This means that if your unit gets in trouble, depending on how things are deployed you can immediately, in under a minute, have at least a ton of explosives landing on the bad guys every minute. For each adjacent battery, you can add another ton of explosive. Per minute. That is why Rumsfeld rapid deployment battalions are an abomination when they become the Army's standard deployment unit. They are essentially accepting more dead soldiers so the politicians can get instant response, i.e. not have to accept responsibility for effective planning and diplomacy. That is the difference between having an ex-military man with a brain, Bush Sr., in charge during a conflict instead of a National Guard wannabe who is clueless about bad advice (Rumsfeld), read Bush Jr. If you really believe in our troops, next time make sure in your primaries a moron like Bush Jr. is eliminated.