Obama declares 'turning point' for U.S. military

2014-12-16T09:36:53-05:00

From: Army Times

FORT DIX, N.J. — Marking what he called a "turning point" for the U.S. military, President Obama on Monday saluted troops returning from Afghanistan and declared the United States is moving past the time for large deployments aimed at nation building.

Obama noted that nearly 180,000 troops were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan when he took office, and that number will be down to less than 15,000 at the end of the month.

"The time of deploying large ground forces with big military footprints to engage in nation building overseas, that's coming to an end," the commander in chief said in a speech to 3,000 at New Jersey's Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, a launching point for deployments to Afghanistan.

U.S. and NATO troops closed their operational command in Afghanistan last week after 13 years of war. Some troops will remain, however, to carry out operations against Taliban and al-Qaida targets.

"Going forward our military will be leaner," Obama said. "But as your commander in chief, I'm going to make sure we keep you ready for the range of missions that we ask of you. We are going to keep you the best trained, the best led, the best equipped military in the history of the world because the world will still be calling."

The base also has been used to send service members to West Africa to help confront the Ebola crisis.

Obama was greeted upon arrival by Republican Gov. Chris Christie. Obama and the potential 2016 presidential candidate shared a laugh and a long handshake before heading to the event to express gratitude to the troops ahead of the holidays. "You guys are like Santa in fatigues," Obama joked.

At a time when Republicans are fighting Obama's action to offer reprieve from deportations, the president singled out one immigrant working on the base. Obama said the airman, who fled civil war in his native Congo and joined the U.S. military, has "that same patriotism, that same sense of what we're about as Americans; that same creed that we can all pledge allegiance to regardless of what we look like or where we come from."

"We're fighting on the same team, for the same values and same ideals," Obama said.

http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/2014/12/15/obama-declares-turning-point-for-us-military/20455293/

Response by CPT Zachary Brooks made Dec 16 at 2014 9:40 AM

2014-12-16T09:40:25-05:00

This is a good thing. The only nation we need to be building is our own, especially when we can't even do that right how can we expect to build other nations?

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 16 at 2014 10:18 AM

2014-12-16T10:18:28-05:00

This is asking all the elements of the D.I.M.E. model to all do their jobs and communicate across them. I have yet to see this done, I know I have not served at the highest levels, but we seem to stovepipe in our niche and be okay with what we do.
If we want to do this right, we need to fund and field the DoS as we do the DoD, and then hold all departments and agencies accountable to do their jobs and not expect the military to do DoS or anyone elses job, it is not in the DoDs portfolio even though they have been trying to do it for years.

Response by SFC Dr. Joseph Finck, BS, MA, DSS made Dec 16 at 2014 10:26 AM

2014-12-16T10:26:06-05:00

It seems the military is being asked to do the same with less or perhaps more with less since ISIS, ISIL, or IS has created a reason to re-deploy to Iraq. I do not agree with reducing the size of the military personally or professionally. A strong resolute military is needed to keep the dogs of war at bay. The next and or emerging threat will capitalize on our weakness or perception there of and the liberal media's proclamation of our weakness and evil through broadcasts of enhanced interrogation tactics, the racial divide, and a furtherance of an us versus them attitude internally in the US. We must as a nation be one, be strong, be devoted, and be ready. Any divide we have needs to be overcome, with a quickness, and our attention needs to be on an enemy whose desire is to fly a flag, other than ours, above the Whitehouse. This attention cannot pull us away from the other sabre rattlers out there whether the be in Asia or Western Europe or Central and South America.

United we stand, divided we fall.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 16 at 2014 10:28 AM

2014-12-16T10:28:43-05:00

If JB-MDL is "The Premier Mobilization Platform", then why is all things supporting mobilization being shut down and moved to Fort Hood TX in April 2015? Did Texas conduct more politics with its representatives, and New Jersey let it go without a fight?
Yes, mobilizations are drawing to a close (thank God), but seems to me JB-MDL has a better force projection with all the in-house assets than Fort Hood. Someone didn't look at the numbers.....

Response by SGT Michael Glenn made Dec 16 at 2014 11:13 AM

2014-12-16T11:13:28-05:00

Still think he needs to go, he has done enough damage to the states and Im glad some states are boycotting his dumb ass obama care, we need more people to stand up against him and remove him.

Response by LCpl Steve Wininger made Dec 16 at 2014 6:51 PM

2014-12-16T18:51:16-05:00

Political smokescreen. The only actual truth he mentioned was turning point, and if it is anything like the hope and change he promised, look out brothers and sisters and keep your backs against the wall.

Response by MSG Karl Arrington made Dec 16 at 2014 9:09 PM

2014-12-16T21:09:00-05:00

It's all cyclical, I've gone this about three times now beginning when I was in college in the late '70's. The largest cut was back then with smaller ones over the next thirty years. Something will come up and we have to rebuild again. We would be going through a larger cut now if it weren't for the rise of ISIS and other factions delaying it. Then again, the current administration may just ignore that and make larger cuts regardless of the current world situation.

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Dec 16 at 2014 10:26 PM

2014-12-16T22:26:47-05:00

I am sad to say that I do not trust the President's judgment. What is the basis for making a seminal shift in defense policy. I have not heard of this policy being advanced by a blue ribbon panel of experts, have you? I see nothing in his education or experience that would qualify him for making it on his own, have you?

I have never been one to jump to conclusions based on conspiracy theories but this move in conjunction with his demonstrated inclination to make excuses for our enemies or appease their demands combined with his radical altering of America's defense posture makes me vulnerable to suspicions. How about you?

Obviously, we can always rebound when a new Administration replaces President Obama's, that is, of course, he is not replaced with someone of his ideological persuasion or worse. After all, how much more damage can he do in just two years remaining in his tenure?

Response by SFC Michael Jackson, MBA made Dec 17 at 2014 2:49 AM

2014-12-17T02:49:00-05:00

Personally, I think it's a shame the commander-in-chief of America's troops can't even bring our service members home without drawing criticism from Americans, including the military community.
America spent over a decade in Iraq and Afghanistan, $6 Trillion dollar (that's a 1/3 of the entire national debt), had over 50,000 wounded, and over 5,000 killed (thank you to all over medical personnel) the casualties easily would've been much higher without expertise

We went to find two(2) people, Sadamm and Osama. We got baited into fighting two endless wars. Declaring war on terror overseas is the equivalent of declaring war on drugs here in America. Have we rid ourselves of drugs, yet? Still, to this day, don't know what Sadamm's involvement with 9/11 was. That's a discussion another day.

I'm concerned about bankrupting our country to fund some country's wars and solve their civil unrest problems. Particularly, when a clear purpose and objective isn't defined.
If turning point means bring troops our out of the foreign lands, and letting these countries fight their battles. I'm for it.

ISIS- some point to ISIS as an example of why we shouldn't left Iraq. In my opinion, ISIS is the Iraqi Army's problem, not ours. We spent nearly ten years standing up and training them to protect their own country. They should deal with it.

However,I support the US fighting ISIS. Why? They threaten the US Embassy and Americans in the regions. They invited us when they targeted, captured, and brutally murdered innocent non-combatant Americans

I'm confused and perplexed that end of American involvement in Afghanistan doesn't draw more support

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 29 at 2015 12:09 AM

2015-03-29T00:09:26-04:00

Do these numbers include the civilian contractors deployed in lieu of military personnel who support our operations?