A Hollow Army Reappraised: President Carter, Defense Budgets, and the Politics of Military Readiness

Abstract

The term hollow army or the broader expression, hollow force, has as much currency today as it did when an Army Chief of Staff first uttered the phrase 3 decades ago. In this period of declining defense budgets, the President of the United States, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have articulated how the newly released strategic guidance and budget priorities represent a concerted effort not to hollow out U.S. forces. They have affirmed their dedication to preventing the re-creation of the ragged military and disastrous deterioration in defense capability the Jimmy Carter administration allowed to occur. Thus, more than 30 years later, the expression continues to be as politically potent as it was when first spoken. However, it is also time to reexamine the term hollow army and its meaning as the inevitable tug of war over defense spending gets underway.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2012
Accession Number
ADA566298

Entities

People

  • Frank L. Jones

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Anti-Tank Missiles
  • Armored Personnel Carriers
  • Army Personnel
  • Budgets
  • Combat Vehicles
  • Congress
  • Federal Budgets
  • Governments
  • Law
  • Military Budgets
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Public Policy
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Economics
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Military Mobilization and Reserve Forces Studies.