5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Be Scared by the Plan to Downsize the Army [View all]

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/22267-5-reasons-why-you-shouldnt-be-scared-by-the-plan-to-downsize-the-army

1. The Army isn't really going to pre-World War II levels.

From the headlines, you might think that the American army is shrinking to the level it was at when post-World War I isolationism carried the day. Not so: in fact, we'd be returning to a troop level higher than it was in the early days of World War II.

The 440,000-450,000 number of troops on active duty Hagel proposes is above the 426,000 troops that were in the Army by the end of 1940 - and well above the 280,000 it began that year with. That matters because, by the end of 1940, President Roosevelt and the Pentagon had begun a significant ramp-up designed to prepare America for involvement in the European and/or Asian theaters of history's deadliest conflict. "By the time of Pearl Harbor," an official U.S. army publication explains, "Congress had spent more for Army procurement than it had for the Army and the Navy during all of World War I."


2. We need them less, because there's less war.


3. But also because the Cold War is over.

4. Don't forget science!

5. Finally, the things that are actually problems aren't really solveable with lots of troops.