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Type: Posts; User: Ray Levesque; Keyword(s):

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    Say what you want about the Army's motives, but...

    Say what you want about the Army's motives, but the reality is that the Air Force and Navy missions are fading into the background of the world's realities. Today's threats, and those of the...
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    Contractors will go on.....

    The use of contractors will continue to grow for the following reasons:
    1. High-tech: for tech contractors the government can no longer compete on the open market. High-tech contractors are rare...
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    "Lessons" of history -- not!

    It's very common to refer to the "lessons of history" when making points about military issues. Fortunately we're not always at war which means we have to study history to practice the profession...
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    The one strategy American Indians never could...

    The one strategy American Indians never could have overcome, and didn't, was the uncontrollable and continuous movement of settlers from the Eastern states and Europe into the west.
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    Darn, I knew this was going to come back to bite...

    Darn, I knew this was going to come back to bite me.:)

    Just to clarify...on the one hand I'm very much a Clausewitzian when it comes to war being an extension of policy/politics by other means,...
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    There's a role for tech, but....

    I definitely agree....I believe there's a tendency to focus on the technology at all levels -- it's sexy, it's quantifiable, and it's an easy sell politically because of its economic impact on...
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    Marine vs. Army crap!

    First, up front, I'm an Army intel guy and have been for .... heck, a long time. Second, you can blame the supporters of "transformation" and the RMA, whose efforts were led by the Navy and Air...
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    Poll: Slap in the head!!

    Ok, first, I'm a gonna' slap myself in the head...I meant to say that 14 of 18 provinces are insurgent free for the most part....darn, I hate it when I do that. :-)

    As for the strategy thing and...
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    Liberal perspective

    Keep in mind that there is a liberal perspective to raising the idea of a draft.
    ** First, if a Democrat supports it he can argue that he's not soft on defense.
    ** Second, from a liberal...
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    Problem with terms "civil war" and "insurgency"

    Although I'm not a Keegan fan I do agree that he brings up a definitional issue that is often ignored. Not that I want to debate symantics per se, but catagorizing the nature of violence leads to a...
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    Poll: First I think we'd both agree there's more than...

    First I think we'd both agree there's more than one factor in winning or losing, and that "public opinion" is only a single factor. However, sticking to the "public opinion" factor -- I do agree...
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    Poll: Moving the goal posts...?

    Yeah, my problem with the 2006 comments are that they represent a political change to the definition of victory. As you noted, they are "more modest." If you move the goal posts far enough you can...
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    Poll: Problem of definition....

    Although I did vote, the question brings up the issue of how do we define success in Iraq? What is a win or what is a loss? Are we talking about a military win or a political win?

    Personnally I...
  14. Evolving tactics using western values as weakness

    This is but one example of a tactical evolution that uses what we in the west perceive as a moral strength, trying to avoid harming women and children, against us. Since the "enemy" cannot fight us...
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    What amazes me is that it took so long. V-shaped...

    What amazes me is that it took so long. V-shaped armored vehciles, to deflect mines, were in use in the 80s in Africa. It's long been known that mines are the "tactic" of choice for insurgents --...
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    Clausewitz' theories are great, but not dogma

    I believe the biggest problem that most have with Clausewitz is that his book (as if he wrote only one) is selectively read, anecdotally quoted, and rarely thought about in a critical manner. One of...
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    We must be careful in our comparisons

    We need to be careful when comparing one small war with another. While there's a temptation to compare the US experience in Vietnam to Iraq, or any other small war, there are significant differences...
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    A general-officer level cheer leader

    His argument is just a rehash of the supporters of the 1990s "revolution in military affairs" that led many to believe that high tech weaponry (and Info Tech) would allow the US to fight any kind of...
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    Analysis for tribes

    If you haven't seen it yet you may want to take a look at a new book out this year:

    Shultz, Richard H., and Andrea J. Dew, Insurgents, Terrorists, and Militias: The Warriors of Contemporary...
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