'To Go, or Not To Go, That is the Question': The Utility of Expeditionary Warfare in the Next Century.
Abstract
The Cold War is over and America's military finds itself beset at home and abroad with conflicts that threaten its very being. Budget cuts, force reductions, and inter-service bickering attack the core of the services while sundry small contingencies catapult operational tempo to the lunatic fringe for those who are left. All the while the services have essentially entered the twenty-first century carrying the same weight of the twentieth-century formations and strategy that made them what they are. The world has changed dramatically, seemingly new but in actuality returning to a time experienced prior to the emergence of the superpower standoff of the last fifty years. But regardless of what is touted on the Potomac, neither the nation's strategy, nor those of the services, have changed to match the brave new world. The revolution in technology which promises the seemingly impossible, a populace that is ever more isolationist, and an economy completely integrated in the rest of the world's only serve to complicate the matter. Merely returning to pre-World War II force levels will not suffice. Not until the very structure of the formations is dramatically revolutionized will we be truly ready to decide where and when -- and more importantly -- if, to intervene.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 07, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA326769
Entities
People
- Jacob M. Mcferren
Organizations
- United States Army War College