My review of Dale Herspring's Rumsfeld's Wars: The Arrogance of Power

[Rank amateur]

only the lionization of Shinseki.

I think the retired general, I can't remember which one, who said that Rumsfeld didn't understand the most basic principles of war, said it best. Fog and friction are inevitable. No plan survives contact with the enemy etc. You don't prepare for war by asking for a rosier scenario and then lowering resources.

The fact that Shinseki didn't predict an insurgency isn't really the issue. The issue is that Shinseki knew we needed more troops to be prepared for the unexpected. For whatever reason, he's become the public face of generals standing up to political incompetents. If he doesn't deserve all the credit, I still think it's a good idea to give it to him, becasue it might inspire the next group of generals who are in a similar situation.

[Ron Humphrey]

It has never been about pure speed; it is about speed while maintaining inititiative and flexibility. In some cases airborne forces are the ticket depending on what you are doing. Other cases you need heavier. Advocating speed for speed's sake is rushing to one's own funeral.

Tom

Was it Wyatt Earp that said something like

Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything.

[Ski]

Right. Strategic speed means nothing unless you have the capabilities on the ground and a plan to win and reinforce peace afterwards.

You can run into a lion's den as fast as you want - but it does not escape the fact you are still in a lion's den.

[Ken White]

Transformation was not about light forces. It was about making 'medium' weight forces deployable - 96 hours any where in the world. In fact, one of the earlier names for what became the SBCT was the Medium Brigade Combat Team. I can remember thinking when I first heard about it that no 'medium' organization in the history of warfare has ever survived for long: the logic of war inevitably drives it to become either lighter or heavier.

for the time. Had the same thought as you on the 'medium' bit -- a concept of which I'm not a fan...

If I may garble my syntax a tad.

[selil]

I read an interview and I'm going to mangle this but I liked it... it went something like this "Every Marine deserves the equivalent of a 30mm mini-gun, with the weight of a 45, and the reliability of a k-bar. Now back in reality...."

Sorry, I thought it was a hillarious example of fantasy meets reality.