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Lee wrote: "My vote, if I was ever asked, would be to
ad the light armor rapid deployment units for sure,
but retain and improve our MBT's in reasonable numbers
as
long as op forces keep and improve their MBT's and
then pray we don't ever need to use them."
As an active duty artilleryman in Korea, I'd like to
add a little to this discussion. Some of my comments
will be a little vague, based on the "loose lips sink
ships" idea.
Generally, I agree with what Jim wrote to the list.
From what I've heard/seen (and it isn't too much),
some brigades we have now will be reequipped to the
med. BDE concept within the next 5 years...initially
focusing on the 2 BDEs at Ft. Lewis.
I think the Army has the wisdom, like some on the
list, not to completely phase out the M1 series - they
have a definite role in the inventory - even the USMC
bought some of the Army's at the end of Desert Storm.
However, note the Marines don't have many - the tanks
and the FUELERS the beasts require are too heavy to
deploy quickly.
Note that since Desert Storm, the US Army is a POWER
PROJECTION ARMY, not forward deployed as it was from
1945-1991. The only forward deployed units are here
in Korea and a few in Germany...most units in the
Balkans now are there on a rotational basis. If the
balloon were to go up here in Korea, I'd sacrifice the
road bound heavy armor to get more mobile units here,
faster. All the crunchies in the back of the APCs are
more valuable than vehicles clogging a limited road
network.
After seeing a proposed wire diagram of the med. BDE,
the log tail it brings with it is DRASTICALLY reduced
from what we have now. These new units will be
augmented with a "cav squadron" (my term) to help it
gain eyes and ears forward, early. While that's
happening, keep an eye on the log guys, who will be
connecting to in-country infrastructure to help
support the combat arms guys who are out forward.
As somebody else said, it all boils down to logistics
- what good is ANY type of combat system in the wrong
theater, without the fuel and ammo it's crew needs to
fight and win? I hope this clarifies something for at
least a few people.
Steve
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Mar 02 2000 - 22:30:22 PST