I agree. It seems like not only the US but most countries have a real problem assessing their ideal outcome and the best tools to accomplish that, beforehand. Hindsight is nice, but not useful.
I understand, knew that. This example was chosen as one of many possible COA's if we did have 10k elites, which admittedly was not the ideal one either.
And there is the rub. If we at any point had that good of intelligence, I highly doubt there would have been a 9/11. Even if there were, we would surely have had no need to dislodge the Taliban, we could've just sent in the Rangers to gather up OBL. Even better we could've just parked an AC-130 over the area and fired up everything that moved. But the catch is not only did we never have intel like that about UBL and AQ, but we have never had it about anyone, anywhere, ever. I wouldn't even be surprised to learn that we don't even know where every single one of our own forces are.
I agree as well, and perhaps poverty will suit us well. We seemed to make much better choices as a nation in our direst circumstances. And while the military is a sledgehammer, there is no better tool for establishing security. Security is, after all the first priority of work, and without it, as we have learned in Iraq, all efforts are fruitless.
I would like to steer away from IZ/AF for a moment, because I hope that if we are bankrupted, it happens well after our departure from both of those countries, and the instability, at least as it stands, was an avoidable mess of our own making. However, messes have a way of making themselves, and they too will require sledgehammers to clean up. Our only national security problems, and our only future small wars are by no means guaranteed to result from mistakes in our foreign policy.
Imagine a collapsed Mexico, or Venezuela, or Haiti, which shouldn't be too hard, and all would be too close to ignore. A small and elite force would not be able to do anything to stabilize those countries, no matter how good they are. Moreover, unless Brazil steps up, which I believe is quite unlikely, the only people who currently have a hope of responding in any meaningful way is the US. We could find ourselves stuck in a position where we cannot afford to do nothing, and we cannot afford to do anything.
Believe me, I am all for more elite forces, especially as a percentage of total troop structure. I just do not believe that we could effectively defend the nation from many potential and legitimate threats with fewer troops than we have now. To list just a few: a Chinese incursion into certain islands in the Pacific, a collapsed Latin American country, a militarily viable state in Central Asia (more of an indirect threat I suppose), a hostile state at critical Seaways (e.g. Panama Canal, Suez, Straights of Magellan, Straights of Malacca). All of these areas would require as many troops as we have or at least enough troops that we would be hard pressed to carry out other critical missions.
Again, I am willing to be convinced, but I would have to see hard evidence that an elite soldier can secure the same battle space as a greater number of not so elite soldiers.
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