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It is amazing how terribly managed our military resources are. I cannot even fathom where to begin to fix it.

• maxerickson 11y ago
  Note the J in JSOC, discard the existing branches of the military and build integrated units around desired tactical capabilities. I guess you'd still have room for a Navy doing it that way, but you get the idea.
  • mentalpiracy 11y ago
    This is easier in theory than it is in practice. While obviously each branch puts together its own integrated units for various missions, th8e real detriment to this kind of idea is what you would lose when breaking down the larger command/logistics backbone of the Army/Marines/AF/Navy. I totally agree that the current system is not maximally efficient, but how would these new integrated units be managed logistically? Would each unit field its own logistics personnel? That might make sense, but then you end up with a lot of duplicated effort for little marginal improvement. Would we need an entire separate command structure for the sole purpose of heavy equipment movement and base management/support? If no, who might be the logical choice for this role?
    • maxerickson 11y ago
      I'm being a little sarcastic, but you could have units organized around providing logistics. Get this here, get that there. Realistically, you might just end up with even more bureaucracies defending their own turf and resisting change. The other thing that might happen is that you end up with less redundant capabilities and better integration. It's kind of stupid that the presence of a jet engine dictates that close air support be under a different command.
  • rdl 11y ago
    Medical should immediately be joint and separate -- maybe the deployed-with-unit combat medics should belong to each service, but there is no justification for the Navy, Air Force, and Army to all run separate medical and medical-logistics commands, role 3 hospitals (role 2 is borderline), stateside and fixed-base facilities like Landstuhl, etc. Medical and Medical Service Corps are pretty borderline inherently-military, anyway; they could be a (uniformed?) federal service, able to handle disaster relief and public health, as well as treating the injured in war. We have PHS already. (This also solves the VA vs. Active Duty healthcare difference; a unified records system and other processes for both would be ideal.)
  • zeveb 11y ago
    > Note the J in JSOC, discard the existing branches of the military and build integrated units around desired tactical capabilities. > I guess you'd still have room for a Navy doing it that way, but you get the idea. So, you'd have a Navy working with ships, and you'd probably have some sort of infantry carried on ships to project power in emergency situations. You might call these marine infantry Marines. Then you'd have the rest of the military, ground-based. You might call this ground-based military force an Army. The Navy, the Army and the Marines would all have air arms to fulfill their particular needs. The Army would probably be in charge of homeland defense (to include nukes) and the Marines would own expeditionary warfare. It's so crazy it could work!
    • maxerickson 11y ago
      Why not train all the combat forces up to the point where they can operate from ships? Because reasons? Here we are discussing a lack of procurement for a vital role, ostensibly partly because command is not structured in a way where capability is a priority, and you are doubling down on the traditional structure being obviously sensible.
      • chrisseaton 11y ago
        > Why not train all the combat forces up to the point where they can operate from ships? Because it's another skill to learn, practice and maintain, and there's limited time and resources. If you take every soldier and give him a two weeks a year training in operating from a ship, then that's two weeks less training in something else, and it's time and space on the ship. Do you also want to train them all in air assault? Does he need to know about submarine insertion techniques? Arctic warfare? Jungle warfare? Mountain warfare? We should probably teach him some middle eastern languages as well, and advanced life support. It'd take years and a huge amount of money and natural resources to give someone a full spectrum of abilities, and they'd have to be a talented person in the first place to keep up with it all. It's not feasible for the majority of conventional forces.
• the_ancient 11y ago
  >>It is amazing how terribly managed our military resources are no really, military is a government program like any other... Government is nothing if not terrible at managing anything