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View Full Version : Mattis Is Getting Good Press



Kathianne
02-05-2017, 06:28 PM
Japan and South Korea like him, a lot!

http://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2017/02/05/semattis_an_instant_hit_in_japan_south_korea_11075 1.html

There is a warning though that he may not be politically savvy enough to get along in the administration, though time will tell.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2017/02/03/how-the-mattis-campaign-plan-for-fixing-americas-military-will-transform-the-u-s-army/#45c76acb5c87


<time class="preload-hidden ng-binding" itemprop="datePublished" content="2017-02-03T12:57:00-05:00" style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: uppercase;">FEB 3, 2017 @ 12:57 PM</time> 119,316 VIEWS<small class="article-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1rem 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: 2em; font-family: &quot;Noto Sans&quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(136, 136, 136); display: block;">
</small>How Mattis' Plan For Fixing The U.S. Military Would Transform The Army
Secretary of Defense James Mattis has issued his initial campaign plan for rebuilding America's military, pursuant to a presidential directive signed January 27. If Congress provides necessary funding, the Mattis plan would reverse a steady erosion of the joint force's warfighting edge that resulted from caps on military spending during the Obama years. In fact, the plan may usher in a surge of spending on new military technology unlike anything seen since the Reagan years.


All four of the military services General Mattis oversees would get a boost, but the biggest beneficiary during President Trump's tenure will be the service that is currently in the direst straits -- the Army. That's because the fixes the Army needs can be implemented more quickly than expanding the Navy's fleet or fielding a new Air Force bomber. In fact, making the Army healthy again could be largely accomplished during Trump's first term -- which is a good thing since it is pivotal to deterring East-West war in Europe.


After two decades of fighting lightly-equipped insurgents in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has fallen behind near-peer adversaries -- most notably Russia -- in a wide array of capabilities including long-range fires (missiles and artillery), air defense, force protection, electronic warfare, and cybersecurity. The Army needed so much money to sustain the force structure and readiness demanded by a global war on terror that there wasn't much left for replacing old equipment -- especially after Congress capped spending in 2011.

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The Mattis campaign plan consists of three steps, aimed at quickly closing readiness gaps and then building up capability. Like I said, the Army benefits most in the near term because what it needs can be fielded fairly fast. Step One in the Mattis plan is to deliver to the White House by March 1 proposed changes to the 2017 budget fixing readiness shortfalls across the joint force. Readiness includes everything from training to maintenance to munitions stocks.


Step Two, delivered to the White House by May 1, would rewrite the 2018 military spending request for the fiscal year beginning October 1 to buy more munitions, invest in critical enablers, grow the size of the force, and fund demonstration of new capabilities. Step Three, based on a revised national defense strategy, would lay out a comprehensive military modernization program for the years 2019-2023. The revised strategy would include a new "force sizing construct" that would boost the size of all the services, but especially the Army.

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Congress has already passed legislation to reverse the shrinkage of the Army that had cut the number of brigade combat teams by a third during the Obama years. Brigade combat teams are the Army's basic formation for conducting maneuver warfare, and typically contain about 4,500 soldiers. There are three brigades in a division, and three battalions in a brigade. What the Army needs as it shifts focus from Southwest Asia to Europe is more armored brigades, equipped with the latest Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles.

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