West Point Colonel Questions Petraeus's Strategy

[glockmail]

With the advances in unmanned aircraft technology, satellite technology, etc., much of the military will be obsolete in a decade ....... kind of what happened to thousands of draftsmen when CAD appeared.... only a handful were needed to do the work of many.

Unmanned aircraft will be able to easily out maneuver anything with a human in it, G forces don't have the same effect on a Radio Controlled aircraft. The Russians, with their cute, air show fighters will be destroyed as an after thought by a generation that has been raised on video games. Add StarWars technology to this and voila, serious ass kicking of most large scaled threats.

Heck, I envision insect size micro-fighters that would fly-crawl their way right into some dictator's bed at night and inject him with deadly poison, effectivly cutting the head off the snake on the first day of a conflict. Or even nano-sized machines that work their way into communications equipment and disable it, or get under the skin of soldiers and cause temporary paralysis or convulsions.

[Sitarro]

Heck, I envision insect size micro-fighters that would fly-crawl their way right into some dictator's bed at night and inject him with deadly poison, effectivly cutting the head off the snake on the first day of a conflict. Or even nano-sized machines that work their way into communications equipment and disable it, or get under the skin of soldiers and cause temporary paralysis or convulsions.

Weren't the Israelis working on using cockroaches for something?

[glockmail]

Weren't the Israelis working on using cockroaches for something?

As I recall someone was putting little cameras on them. Maybe maineman knows, since he's a needle-dick-bug-fucker.

[rppearso]

That's a very valid point. When you have such a huge superiority in long range air power, I don't think that anyone could wage a "large scale war" against us. Just think of any major battle would have been in WW2 if we had just the AF technology that we have today. In Europe, we would have simply annihilated all German factories, bridges and fuel depots, leaving their army unsupplied and useless. We would have sunk all German and Japanese battleships within hours. In the Pacific theater, we would have simply ignored the string of islands leading up to Japan and attacked her head-on.

I think you ment to say the germans would have been kicking our asses and bombing our factories, I think you just typoed considering most of the core technology we have came from german scientists and engineers, our own scientists and engineers did alot as well but the germans catupulted us way ahead.

[glockmail]

I think you ment to say the germans would have been kicking our asses and bombing our factories, I think you just typoed considering most of the core technology we have came from german scientists and engineers, our own scientists and engineers did alot as well but the germans catupulted us way ahead.

You may have your calendar set wrong. It's 2008, not 1941.

http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/

[Pale Rider]

It shouldn't be that all we can do is fight one kind of a war or another. We should be able to quickly adapt to ANY kind of a war.

[rppearso]

You may have your calendar set wrong. It's 2008, not 1941.

http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/

Nice try at being a brazen smart ass, but your reference was to WW2 which occured in the 1940s so it would have been the germans that had the technology you speak of not us. They had thoes pesky people you hate so much (myself included) called scientists and engineers who give its military technological superiority.

[Nukeman]

It shouldn't be that all we can do is fight one kind of a war or another. We should be able to quickly adapt to ANY kind of a war.

Actually Pale we have the ability to wage "ANY" type of war that is needed, we can adapt and we can win any war that is put in front of us. The problem is all the damn shackles they put on our soldiers and the limitations imposed on the military to carry our operations.

Get rid of all the journalist in the field limit news coverage and kick the shit out of whoever we are fighting. Level the freaking cities that are hiding the terrorist. Start at one side and level the whole fucking thing. The problem is we have too many people in the public who think war is "moral" or can be safe for everyone not fighting. It is a freaking war with casualties unfortunately we are restrained from unleashing our full force to deal with the problems....

[Nukeman]

Nice try at being a brazen smart ass, but your reference was to WW2 which occured in the 1940s so it would have been the germans that had the technology you speak of not us. They had thoes pesky people you hate so much (myself included) called scientists and engineers who give its military technological superiority.

Hey dip shit try reading comprehension 101 some time. He said that if WE had the technology we have today in WWII than we could have annihilated the Germans in about a week....

Just think of any major battle would have been in WW2 if we had just the AF technology that we have today. In Europe, we would have simply annihilated all German factories, bridges and fuel depots, leaving their army unsupplied and useless

Here I posted the quote and even bolded the part your superior brain missed. God I hope you never work on any of the inventions that I may need in the future!!!

[glockmail]

Nice try at being a brazen smart ass, but your reference was to WW2 which occured in the 1940s so it would have been the germans that had the technology you speak of not us. They had thoes pesky people you hate so much (myself included) called scientists and engineers who give its military technological superiority.

I'm dissapointed in myself for not impressing on you that I am a brazen smart ass, not simply trying for it. And yes, the german mind has a higher capacity to advance technology. Being from German ancestry myself, I can attest to that.

But the subject matter here is the need (or not) for the US to fight a large scale war now and in the future, not an acedemic review of what could have happened in 1940.

[rppearso]

I'm dissapointed in myself for not impressing on you that I am a brazen smart ass, not simply trying for it. And yes, the german mind has a higher capacity to advance technology. Being from German ancestry myself, I can attest to that.

But the subject matter here is the need (or not) for the US to fight a large scale war now and in the future, not an acedemic review of what could have happened in 1940.

All nations and nationalities have there great thinkers but its the society that has to back the engineer and scientist otherwise what they come up with will not be realized nor will they be likely to stay in that society and that nations government can cause a "brain drain" which will plunge you in to third world status as soon as your past infrastructure deteriorates. John Goder actually built the first liquid fueled rocket before von braun but our government basicly laughed at him so his idea never developed. The germans had the engineering and leadership to back it (even though the leadership were a bunch of evil sickos). You state you have a higher capacity of thought are you an engineer or scientist, if not and you have the aptitude for it what the heck go for it, it is an awsome profession, you can even cross train in both science and engineering.

[rppearso]

Hey dip shit try reading comprehension 101 some time. He said that if WE had the technology we have today in WWII than we could have annihilated the Germans in about a week....


Here I posted the quote and even bolded the part your superior brain missed. God I hope you never work on any of the inventions that I may need in the future!!!

I dident miss it, I simply stated reality, if iraq had US technology they would have won the war but thats not reality.

[glockmail]

All nations and nationalities have there great thinkers but its the society that has to back the engineer and scientist otherwise what they come up with will not be realized nor will they be likely to stay in that society and that nations government can cause a "brain drain" which will plunge you in to third world status as soon as your past infrastructure deteriorates. John Goder actually built the first liquid fueled rocket before von braun but our government basicly laughed at him so his idea never developed. The germans had the engineering and leadership to back it (even though the leadership were a bunch of evil sickos). You state you have a higher capacity of thought are you an engineer or scientist, if not and you have the aptitude for it what the heck go for it, it is an awsome profession, you can even cross train in both science and engineering.

My Dad and I are both engineers. He worked on missile systems for the Army during the Korean war. I'm licensed in three states. My son is still in HS, only got one wrong in the math SAT, and is headed for a career in aerospace.

[JohnDoe]

We will not be fighting any conventional wars in the near future. Even a war with iran or n. korea would be very similar to iraq. The combat techniques are similar. Counter insurgency is simply learning to deal with the locals and getting them on your side. It's an addition to the regular combat techniques that all soldiers learn.

I think Gentile is just getting his name out there for future political ambitions or a slot with cnn as a military annalist.

Gaffer, you know we got a trust in one another, even though with opposite views on war issues...so please keep this in mind when I say....

Are you going out of your mind???? lol hahahaha!

Seriously though! Let me explain....

I was JUST reading about how many people saddam had for his full Army at the time we invaded in 2003, and the figures I read were anywhere from 8000 to 10,000 men army, if you counted his trained reserve forces too....

Then I went to another article that spoke about Iran, and how many trained army troops they have in their total Army....It was 900,000, including their trained reserves! A few hundred thousand in their airforce alone!

A war with Iran, in my opinion would most certainly be a "conventional" war, in combination with the militia that would form from the masses!!!!

A NIGHTMARE for the USA right now....we can't jump the gun and think something like this could be done right now because of our "air Power", that is foolish beyond belief in my opinion! Just think about it....Iran has the largest army in the middle east! This would lead to Armageddon I am afraid to say.... Especially if done without an exit strategy and an entrance strategy that keeps in mind that Saudi Arabia and Israel would be pulled in to it too...along with Iraq!

Our Troops are tired Gaffer, we would need a draft before we jumped the gun on Iran knowing all of this, don't you think?

jd

[Gaffer]

Gaffer, you know we got a trust in one another, even though with opposite views on war issues...so please keep this in mind when I say....

Are you going out of your mind???? lol hahahaha!

Seriously though! Let me explain....

I was JUST reading about how many people saddam had for his full Army at the time we invaded in 2003, and the figures I read were anywhere from 8000 to 10,000 men army, if you counted his trained reserve forces too....

Then I went to another article that spoke about Iran, and how many trained army troops they have in their total Army....It was 900,000, including their trained reserves! A few hundred thousand in their airforce alone!

A war with Iran, in my opinion would most certainly be a "conventional" war, in combination with the militia that would form from the masses!!!!

A NIGHTMARE for the USA right now....we can't jump the gun and think something like this could be done right now because of our "air Power", that is foolish beyond belief in my opinion! Just think about it....Iran has the largest army in the middle east! This would lead to Armageddon I am afraid to say.... Especially if done without an exit strategy and an entrance strategy that keeps in mind that Saudi Arabia and Israel would be pulled in to it too...along with Iraq!

Our Troops are tired Gaffer, we would need a draft before we jumped the gun on Iran knowing all of this, don't you think?

jd

At the start of the invasion saddam had 25 divisions. One division is 8 to 10 thousand men. Don't know where they got their numbers from on the site you were reading.

Yes iran has a big army. It's a big country. The question is, how many of them will fight for the mullahs. The country is hurting economically because the mullahs are bleeding them dry. Other than the fanatical there won't be a full scale resistance.

Our airpower will take out their defenses, command and control, and armored units before we ever set foot in the country. During the air assaults the ground troops will move into position. I also think there will be major uprisings in the country once we begin the strikes. Just based on my readings about what the population has undergone there.

Equipment used to attack iran is not the equipment that is iraq at this time. It will be brought into the theater. And the attacks will come from the gulf, iraq and afgan. Causing the iranians to defend on three fronts.

The big question in a war with iran is what will their puppets do. hezbo and hamas and syria. Their agents will be making strikes throughout the world. But the important thing is to take out the head of the snake. All the problems in the middle east and all over the world originate in iran.

As I have said many times before, when congress has the balls to actually declare war then they have the right to draft. Until then it should remain an all volunteer force.

Ask a soldier or marine who has served in iraq and seen the casualties caused by iranian made IED's and rockets. And tell me they would be too tired to go take out iran and those factories. They would be all over that opportunity.

The military is not broke, tired or poorly equipt. They are not victims being sent off to war. They are taking the war to the enemy in the enemies land so the folks at home can go about their business as though no war exists. If iran gets a few more years to prepare the war will be brought here and an apocalyptic war is exactly what they want.