Some know generally about the U.S. military: how its ranks are stretched thin as its members serve on station around the world - seeking to prevent civilians from being mutilated and dragged through the streets, and defending liberty in what Donald Rumsfeld terms a multifaceted, "asymmetric" war. Herewith, an annotated survey of various news items relating to the military about which knowledge may be less. .
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld continues to press the Pentagon to use the nation's Special Operations forces ever more aggressively for maximization of their effectiveness. Such use seems the best way to throttle terrorism, to thwart Baathist and Taliban and al-Qaida groups (etc.), and to nail their top functionaries. Funding is rising for SEALS, Rangers and the Marines' Force Recon. Stay tuned.
As service roles and emphases change, this deficit hour may suggest funding trouble for standard-force big-ticket hardware still in development. The Army has canceled its Commanche helicopter; the Marines' V-22 tiltrotor aircraft still may not be quite right. Other items in possible jeopardy: the Army's Future Combat System, the Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor jet, the multi-service F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and both the Navy's Virginia-class attack submarine and its Littoral Combat Ship. Grumblings and rumblings persist regarding even the under-construction missile-defense system.
As part of the cutbacks and force reductions, a fifth round of base closings is coming - next year; 97 major bases have been closed since 1988, and dozens of others modified. Addressing what it terms a 25-percent "overcapacity" in domestic bases, the Defense Department has begun asking 425 military installations in the United States and its territories to justify themselves.
None of this includes the separate-track realignment of U.S. forces worldwide - with the anticipated reduction of force levels at bases in Western Europe, and troop redeployment to new or expanded bases in Eastern Europe, South Asia and along the Pacific Rim.