- Member since
March 2007
- From: Portsmouth, RI
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Posted by searat12
on Sunday, November 16, 2008 10:18 PM
 squeakie wrote: | | searat12 wrote: | | Yup.... And you know, the situation is not that much different right now, and there is no draft to get the warm bodies! I got out as an E7 back at the end of 1996, even though I was offered promotion to E8 with a fast-track to SGM, but after almost 13 years, I had had enough. Shortly after we seized Afghanistan, and were gearing up for Iraq, I ran into some recruiters in the supermarket, and just on a whim, I thought I'd see what they were offering at the time.... And even though I had been out on beat street for like six years, and was well into my 40's, they said they would give me my old rank back, a bonus of $30K, and promotion to E8 within a year if I didn't get killed or screw up! By this time, I coulda made about $90K in bonuses, on top of combat pay, etc......! That was my first clue just how hard-up the current Army is. I have since found out they will take just about anyone these days, while I recall you had to have at least a high-school diploma or equivalent and no criminal record, and in fact, they were really looking for people with college, and I recall a PFC with a Doctorate in an ADA Battalion I was assigned to back in the 80's! The PT test minimum requirements kept going up, and I recall when I got out in 1996, that my PT requirements for age were the same as what they were when I joined up in 1984! Boy, has THAT all been thrown out the window! My guess is that when all the current wars are done, it will take about six-ten years for the Army to get back to anything like the standards we had back in the '80's..... Just like after Vietnam! |
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there is an Army Reserve training center about twenty minutes south of me, and this is one of the major training spots for all people going to Iraq and Afganistan. Some are going, and some are returning, but it's steady. There's also a SEAL team posted out in the middle of now where down there, and we happen upon them from time to time. Otherwise the place is dead. Used to be very busy place every weekend, and really busy during the summer months. Now the most activity during the week is bombing runs from F16's. Miss the A10's. Three years ago there was a waiting line to get in the National Guard and Reserves here, but with all of them heading overseas I doubt there still is. Still I see alot of upper NCO's getting their ticket punched. When Carter was president (I guess that's what some folks called him anyway, but count me out) the place was completely dead. And this was the same on most regular Army bases as well. Then Reagan had to ramp up military spending just to make an attempt to catch up. Then we went into Kuwait and Iraq, and of course everbody knows what happened. The Bush Sr. promptly went to work on the military budgit, only to be followed by Clinton. Now you see a lot of canibalized equipment everywhere due to the lack of money for spares. I often wonder how well the Army would be equiped if those clowns in congress had one of their kids in and SPG! In 1997 there was enough deisel to fuel each and every truck up at Ft.Bragg. There was less that two rounds per tube (155mm). There were canibalized choppers and C130s everywhere. Are you ready for that situation again? Or better said is your kid ready for that scenero again? gary |
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Well, a lot of people don't realise that it was Carter that actually started the re-arming and re-organization of the US military after Vietnam, got the funding, etc. But it took close to six years for that money and reorganization to start to take effect, clear out the Vietnam dopers, etc). Reagan kicked it up a couple more notches, and by the time the first Gulf War kicked off, we had the most professional and well-equipped military in the world, by a long shot! Saddam was so stupid, as if he had just waited a year to invade Kuwait, the US military would only have been half as powerful (this was the military designed to fight WW3!) due to drawdowns. We also expended the ENTIRE ammo supply for Europe that had been stockpiled to fight the Warsaw Pact for the previous 30 years, and who knows how much that cost? Note, most of it wasn't used in combat (because the Iraqi Army wisely surrendered for the most part), but the Saudis insisted that when we came back from Iraq, we could not bring ammo with us, so EVERY unit, before returning across the line, had a 'mad minute' that lasted for an hour or two, burning off all the ammo they had carried into Iraq and Kuwait.... Talk about a waste!!
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