Originally Posted by
JRB
I'm out of that loop, and even if I wasn't, I doubt there's any of that information that could be shared on a public forum.
What I can say is that 2+2 = 4, and here's the 2+2:
- Record numbers of contractors both American and OCN/TCN are being used anywhere they can replace Soldiers, especially in maintenance/sustainment operations. This is done to keep the 'boots on ground' numbers lower. Takes three contractors to do the same as one American Soldier? Oh well. Sadly, in some cases one skilled prior service contractor can do the work of three Soldiers, particularly in fields like aviation maintenance, etc.
- Large conventional units require more time to 'spool up' and get logistics organized etc and actually get deployed. That's expensive and largely unpopular in a lot of circles.
- Our Immediate Reaction Force (IRF) and SF types are the exception. They can also reset and redeploy back stateside in a faster fashion as well. They have more independent control of their logistics, their budgets, and their missions. They also have a 'leaner' chain of command and more operational flexibility.
As we all know, the more staff officers present that count beans, the more lag time, cost, complication, and problems that exist in moving quickly and effectively.
Said another way, imagine that the mission is to move some stuff, and a regular deploying conventional element is a 53ft semi truck with a 30mph speed limiter and very specific rules on when, where, and what can be loaded into the back and how it can be loaded into the back, and where it's allowed to pick up and drop stuff off. There's also rules on inspecting the truck, ensuring it's maintained to a specific standard, and the truck doesn't move at all unless all those conditions are met. But when all those conditions are met, we can move a LOT of shit and move some of the biggest shit around - just slowly and with a lot of paperwork and other crap.
Meanwhile, SF/SOF elements are a 650hp pickup truck with an 8ft bed and basically no other rules beyond 'don't lose any of the shit you're carrying'.
For awhile now, it has been much faster to make multiple trips to everything, filling that 8ft bed every time and blasting around the desert at 100mph, and thereby driving the wheels off that truck.
Except now the check engine light is on, it's leaking oil, the tires are bald, and it's making some weird noises. Leadership will pay lip service to those concerns and maybe get it a new set of tires and make sure there's enough oil to keep it topped off. But they're not going to think it's a real problem until they're driving that truck somewhere and it breaks down.
At which point the leadership will say 'what a piece of shit truck' and wonder why it broke because it was working just fine with the check engine light and bad tires etc just 15 minutes ago.