Sunday, January 27, 2008

The US Army is Not Unique

The British Army is also overstretched. Their soldiers are also opting not to reenlist at increasingly greater rates.

Way to go, Chimpy. At this rate, the only combat-ready English-speaking military that is combat-ready may be the Canadians.

5 comments:

  1. Uhm, the Canadians are overstretched in Afghanistan right now... next?

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  2. I guess that leaves New Zealand, if they even have an army. I don't know if they do.

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  3. Don't forget Australia, which is apparently the new Poland of the English-speaking world...

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  4. But isn't Australia also sending troops into Chimpy's wars?

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  5. Hmm, New Zealand's army apparently is a whole 4,500 strong. I.e., not even a full combat battalion. They seem equipped primarily for light peace-keeping activities with armored wheeled vehicles being the closest thing they have to a "tank" and 40mm grenade launchers being the closest thing they have to artillery. The entire New Zealand military has 11,000 men total.

    In other words, I don't think we can rely on New Zealand to pull our bacon out of the fat if, say, the Taliban is closing in on where the Pakistani nukes are stashed and we gotta get somebody's army in there quick to secure them...

    BTW, note that Australia has pulled all their troops out of Iraq, thanks to the defeat of P.M. John Howard in the last election. Australia's army is the equivalent of one U.S. division, with their reserves comprising the equivalent of another U.S. division. The Aussies have 59 M1A1 tanks, the rest of their "armor" is Vietnam-vintage M113 APC's and Mowag Pirhanna wheeled AFV's. Most of their mobility is provided by Bushmaster mine-resistant trucks (similar to the ones now being purchased by the U.S. for use in Iraq). So yeah, they're probably the only English-speaking country around whose military is currently intact and deployable, unless you count India as an English-speaking country (I don't).

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