In a speech in early June, U.S. Marines Gen. James Mattis called for an end to the so-called "capabilities-based" approach to military planning, where the Pentagon strove to have the best possible forces for every imaginable threat, regardless of cost -- rather than emphasizing the forces deemed most *necessary *for the most likely threat. It's capabilities planning that produced small numbers of super-capable, and super-expensive, weapons like the F-22 fighter, at the expense of more mundane infantry battalions, trainers and logistical forces.
That's about to change, if Defense Secretary Bob Gates has his way. On Monday, Gates announced plans to add more than 20,000 active-duty soldiers to the Army's ranks, for three years. If and when the boost happens, the Army will have around 570,000 active troops, up from just 480,000 before 9/11. (These figures don't include the approximately 500,000 reservists and Guardsmen.) It's a temporary increase, for now, but Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told Defense News that a larger Army could be permanently codified in the forthcoming Quadrennial Defense Review.
The boost is driven by Gates' vision of "hybrid" war, where enemy forces shift fluidly between insurgent tactics and tech-heavy, traditional warfare. Hybrid threats are best defeated by "high-performing small units capable of operating independently at increasingly lower echelons," Mattis said. A larger army will also eventually allow troops to take two years off between combat deployments, instead of the one year off that is the current standard.
A larger Army won't be cheap: $1 billion in 2010, alone. And Gates is planning on paying for it without asking for more money. “The grim reality is that with regard to the budget we have entered a zero-sum game," he said. "Every defense dollar diverted to fund excess or unneeded capacity ... is a dollar that will be unavailable to take care of our people," he said. That helps explain Gates' adamant stance against buying more F-22s.
[PHOTO: David Axe]
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