exclusive-pentagon-investigating-army-two-star-general-for-retaliation-against-green-berets

A bit of both, but when we get a near peer combatant, we will see that we need to throw in everything and the kitchen sink.

I would agree. While I can't defend my "intuitions" with expertise, I generally get the sense that what Special Operations was originally designed for... and what it has evolved to be over the last four decades or so...are widely divergent. Imagine trying to conduct WWII without a very large number of conventional combatants. Perhaps the analogy is using a scalpel vs. a meat cleaver... but perhaps another reasonable discussion is whether or not a third option is available? Again, not my lane, but I can't imagine it will ever be reasonable, let alone prudent to attempt to meet these targets for manning and not lower the overall quality of the product.