A Long-Term Crisis in Need of Immediate Remedy
By Douglas Farah
A story in today's Washington Post mirrors much of what I have heard in recent discussions with military groups, focusing on a problem that will have long-term implications for fighting hot wars, large and small, in the near future.
It is the crisis caused by the exodus of the middle cadre of the officer corps, the captains, majors and LTCs who simply are worn out by the military rotations in Iraq and Afghanistan, see no relief in sight and are dealing with an increasing level of equipment failure and other signs of material fatigue. Not to mention family lives that are sinking.
These are the men and women with combat experience, training and the leadership qualities that will be fighting hot wars, large and small, mostly against radical Islamists, for years to come.
The military has invested tens of thousands of dollars in their training and deployments. They are the ones learning lessons in the current forms of combat, lessons that must be learned and taught in years ahead. The experience is vital, given my baseline supposition that we will be fighting small-scale wars in faraway places on a regular basis. The Gulf of Guinea? Horn of Africa? the Stans (including Pakistan)? All are areas where al Qaeda and other radical Islamist groups have vowed to open new fronts in a long war. My full blog is here.
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