We are preparing for war with Russia

[Renew Deal]

I know this is third hand, but this is the internet where third hand speculation is encouraged.

I spoke with a friend this weekend. He said he has a friend in the Army and the friend said they are preparing for war with Russia. Obviously this preparation is probably ordinary, but I was hearing similar things about Iraq after 9/11. Back then a friend in the marines said "we're going to Iraq." This was before UN votes, protests, congressional hearings, etc. The military knew first.

We'll see

[spud_demon]

1. Iraq was written on the wall the moment that the Senate accepted the Bush victory

D!ck Cheney's organization, Partnership for a New American Century, published several papers in the late 1990s about how great the world would be if only the US would invade Iraq. A vote for Bush/Cheney in November 2000 was a vote for war. It's a shame more people didn't know that.

[KingCharlemagne]

28. Technical Note: "Project for a New American Century" - nt

[arcane1]

2. We were already bombing Iraq over their alleged "WMDs" before Bush was even elected.

See "Operation Desert Fox" for a good example.

[MohRokTah]

3. When I was in the Army during the time period of the 1980 election, ...

we were preparing for war with Iran.

In fact, during my time in the Army we were constantly preparing for war with somebody or other.

Preparing for war is what the Army does.

[PJMcK]

4. Exactly

The military constantly trains for many different scenarios. Not only is that their job, it would be highly irresponsible not to. The last thing the military would want is a big surprise from Russia, North Korea or a host of other bad actors.

Respectfully, I have to question factualness of the OP's third-hand source as well as the second-hand's motivation for sharing this information. Additionally, the third-hand source is probably not way up high in the military hierarchy; if they were, they probably wouldn't talk about it outside of their command.

[MohRokTah]

5. Preparing for war with North Korea....

was always a standard for winter time maneuvers.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

8. I would imagine

that we have plans (somewhere) for a war with Canada.

[PJMcK]

12. And Mexico

And Bermuda.

ETA: There was an episode of "The West Wing" titled "A Good Day" where some American ranchers cross into Canada where they are taken into custody by Canadian ranchers. While trying to negotiate their release, Deputy National Security Advisor Kate Harper has a problem:

The Canadians tell Kate and the others the ranchers have declared war on the US. Kate tells the Canadians there is no plan to invade Canada, at which the General looks at Kate. They get off the phone and the general tells Kate, actually there is a plan to invade Canada.

http://westwing.wikia.com/wiki/A_Good_Day

I wouldn't doubt that it's true!

[Ex Lurker]

17. It's absolutely true, it's called Joint War Plan Red

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/29/AR2005122901412.html

This is the 1930's version, but I'm sure there's a modern plan. As others have said, it would be irresponsible for the military to not plan for war with every imaginable contingency. I'm sure the Canadians have a plan of their own in case of invasion from the south.

And I'm 100% certain there's even a plan to deal with an extraterrestrial threat.

[PJMcK]

20. Doesn't that movie open next month?

The sequel to Independence Day!

Kidding aside, I'm certain you're right about the aliens. Of course, it's kind of dumb since any intelligence that can traverse space would have a bit of a technological advantage over earthlings.

But now you've got me thinking about your expression, "an extraterrestrial threat." What if the threat isn't a belligerent xenomorph but rather a bacteria or virus or something else that comes to earth on an asteroid that is heavily infected. With no natural immunity and little if any scientific or medical understanding of the pathogen, what would happen to our societies if the infections were fatal? How would governments cope with the collapsing of civilization? I seem to remember that was the subtext Michael Crichton's novel "The Andromeda Strain."

Have a happy Independence Day.

[LanternWaste]

14. Warplan Rainbow during the inter-war years

War Plan Rainbow during the inter-war years was a series of operational plans dealing with various international scenarios and the US military response towards them. And yes, one of them was a scenario specifically detailing the US response to a conflict with the British Commonwealth including Canada.

Granted, these were little more than academic papers gamed out by the military for response-practice, but in the years since, they are often pointed to as evidence of some nefarious plot by the US/Military Industrial/Illuminati crap.

Called Rainbow due to a color being assigned to an opposing force, e.g., War Plan Orange was for the Commonwealth, War Plan Red for the Japanese, War Plan Yellow for a French/German alliance, etc.

[Ex Lurker]

19. Minor nitpick, WPO was the contingency for war with Japan

I know this because I minored in history and took a course on the history of WWII. Orange was the basic blueprint for how the US was to in the Pacific, and actual events followed it fairly closely, although parts of it were unrealistic. For instance the Phillipines were expected to hold out on their own until relieved, but the joint Filipino-American force did not have the resources or manpower to do so, and succumbed after several months of bitter fighting.

[LiberalLoner]

9. Exactly. +1

[jberryhill]

6. We've been doing that most of my life

From the moment WWII ended, we've been preparing for war with Russia and vice versa, with only a brief respite in the 90's.

[Octafish]

10. Whatever did happen to that Peace Dividend?

It was going to, you know.

[PJMcK]

21. Pay for new bridges?

Or highways.
Or schools.
Or American's health care.

Our national spending priorities are insane.

[pinboy3niner]

7. After Basic in '67 they told us we were going to war with China and put us on a plane

This was in a 3-week leadership course between Army Basic and Advanced Infantry Training (grads became acting NCOs in AIT companies).

They announced we were being sent to war and gave us time only to leave a brief note home and grab our gear, then we went to the airfield and boarded a plane.

It was all a hoax, of course, to test our reactions. We returned to the barracks, where the NCOs read aloud the final messages we'd left on our bunks...

[peace13]

11. That was a pretty shitty thing to do!

The reading of the letters was especially.....unnecessary!

[pinboy3niner]

16. It was cruel

Fortunately I thought the whole thing was hokey from the beginning, so I didn't leave a serious goodbye note. But some of the private notes were intimate or embarrassing and never should have been shared.

[Nye Bevan]

13. It's the military's job to be prepared for war against any country where this would be possible.

And with a dangerous, arrogant asshole like Putin running Russia it's good to be prepared.

[longship]

15. Oh dearie dear.

War! Toe to toe with the Ruskies!

The next step, unleash the bomb!

The end game:

I think we played through this scenerio when I was a wee lad, in the early 50's.

I see no need to repeat it.

[lpbk2713]

18. That's what they do.

All services have always trained using a "most likely adversary" scenario.

[Ptah]

22. I was in the USAF, October 1973.

This isn't actual preparation for war.

It's practice.

[leeroysphitz]

23. 3 carrier grou0ps are headed to the Persian gulf.

They should arrive within 24 business hours.

[pinboy3niner]

24. Planning to invade Russia is BS, but my brother was on an op to invade Laos before Vietnam

My brother, a U.S. Marine LCPL, was the communications operator for the Marine invasion force afloat. They had a multipoint plan that was aborted only when they reached the next to the last point, which was "Load Ammunition."

My brother said all he knew was that the invasion force was to be choppered in and and admin were to be trucked in through some country he never heard of called 'South Vietnam.'

Later, he saw both of his younger brothers go to war in Vietnam.

If you ever meet a Marine with 'Laos Float" on his short-timer stick (like my brother), it means he was on that operation.

[KingCharlemagne]

29. It's been awhile since I read the history of the time, but IIRC, JFK's team negotiated

a truce and power-sharing arrangement in Laos with the Pathet Lao (Communist) and opposing monarchist-capitaist forces before JFK was assassinated.

[pinboy3niner]

31. This was after JFK's assassination, shortly ater LBJ became President

I'm foggy on the exact timing, but it was either in December or January.

[KingCharlemagne]

33. Ah, geez, now I'm going to have to crack some books. Laos sort of fades into the

background after the coups that deposed first Diem, then JFK, in late 1963. The time I was initially writing about was 1961-62.

[roamer65]

25. Some music for World War III.

https://m.

[roamer65]

26. ...and a bit more.

https://m.

[AllTooEasy]

27. We are preparing to whip Putin's ass...is more like it

Russia can't handle us, and Putin knows it. He's a fly buzzing around a horse's ass.

[KingCharlemagne]

30. Said by Hitler shortly before the commencement of Operation Barbarossa - nt

[Codeine]

32. We've been planning for war with Russia for seventy years.

We make plans and game out any conceivable conflict we can imagine; this is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.