'Hard Choices' and Strategic Insolvency: Where the National Defense Strategy Falls Short

Or how about the military industrial complex that makes sure projects like the F-35 Strike Fighter are spread out through all 50 states to make it that much harder the cut back on the project? Is that what you mean?

Good post Sir.

Being a student of history, I am compelled to make comparisons with the past. We entered WWI woefully trained, manned, and equipped. We ramped up hard and fast for WWII, but had similarly allowed the "peacetime" force to depreciate. I won't say Vietnam caught us on our heels, but we were slow to adapt and evolve... the Cold War mentality and strategy being too lumbering and cumbersome to fully deviate from. As we entered the current era, perhaps we're on the reverse side of that coin... trying to balance a world-class force against third-world threats.

Ultimately, I think a portion of the problem stems from the questions always beginning with, "What can we cut from defense to spend elsewhere?" Another part of the problem undoubtedly comes from sacrificing "lower value" projects and assets to make the numbers, as opposed to the huge, largely failed, wasteful "sacred cows" on the radar of Congress and "Big Defense" contractors.

Thank you, Joseph.