Originally Posted by
larryiah
What is the horse****?
-Nation-building: The military is not a fortune-500 company that just suddenly decided to expand it's business model into a new venture. The civilian leadership is 100% responsible for the nation-building tasking; the only blame the military might bear is that it's possible that a few yes-men in the higher echelon weren't forceful enough in injecting reality into the civilians' thinking...assuming that would have made any difference.
-Eliminate contractors: Warfighters are paid a premium (pay and bennies) to be available for forward deployment, sometimes frequently and with no notice. We don't need uniformed service members doing the laundry, cooking the food, mopping the floors, or handing out towels an the gym in CONUS. Contractors/GS civilians are more cost-effective where you don't need to engage in combat or forward deploy. They are also useful in near-combat environments where you need to quickly ramp up certain skill sets which take years to grow in-house. Contractors can rapidly incentive ex-combat-arms types (esp SOF) to return to service. They should be used judiciously since they are probably more expensive than regular AD.
-That social media isolates military from civilian. If anything, I think it's the opposite. The most isolating factor I've observed has been the last decade of extra deployments and long hours...when guys do make it home they barely have time for their families, not much left for community involvement. And just like everyone else, they tend to socialize with co-workers. I am an advocate of getting all officer and senior enlisted CONUS housing off base where practical, including eliminating commissaries and large exchanges (keep a mini-mart/gas station and MWR stuff for single junior enlisted).
-Using guard/reserves as a "brake" on major war commitments. If you don't like what your politicians are doing with the military, vote them out. Don't try to "rig" the military to be less flexible and responsive so as to further your own agenda long after you're gone.
The real problem with an all volunteer force is not the force itself, it's the reduction in military experience in the general population....which is the pool from which voters and elected officials are drawn.