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Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

So if I can wear the Crown for a day what would I do with the Dept of Defense.

1) Rename it the War Department. We are not going of to fight a "Defense" now are we? Mindset people.

I’m fine with this. However, the original purpose behind having a Department of Defense was to provide greater continuity between conflicts. Inevitably, the public will ask why we’re paying for a Department of War when there is no Department of War. Defense is always good.

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

2) Single parents. Thanks for your help. He is a severance check equal to six months. Buh-bye.

I agree in principle, but there needs to be room for nuance, etc.

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

4) The Marine Corps. I would remove it from the Department of the Navy and slot it under the Department of the Army. Make for a massive reduction in procurement efforts. Going to the Marines would be like going to the Airborne. A specialized assignment but still just an assignment. It would still be Corps sized, though reshaped on the Brigade Combat Team concept. The Navy can protect their ports and other facilities with Master at Arms or draw from their Shore Duty sailors.

The Army would destroy the Corps within five years. There might still be troops wearing some sort of Marine identifier, but they’d lose what makes them Marines. As for procurement, the Marines spend their money more wisely than the Army. I strongly suspect that whatever gains we would make in further centralizing the procurement process would be lost when the Marines rose to the Army’s level of wastefulness.

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

5) The Airborne. Dead concept on Brigade and Division level. Consider the 21st century threat detection capability and Theater air defense missiles that could destroy not just damage cargo aircraft. Lets be real. The Brigade drop hasn't even been used in Afghanistan where such an effort could actually have achieved total surprise and seized terrain and taliban assets. With upcoming Laser technology anything rising above the horizon is dead upon detection. The chips are in the air on SOF units and air delivered supplies.

Reluctantly, I’m forced to agree. If some way could be found to preserve what makes the 82nd Airborne a special formation while doing away with the airborne division concept, I’d buy in.

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

6) Close Air Support is an Army function and should be at the Brigade level. Possibly even with prop driven dirt strip capable air craft.

I’ve heard the USAF burns heretics for less. Like Galileo, you may even have to wait centuries for not-quite-an-apology.

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

7) Army Bases should be in areas where there is room to train. Those Posts in the Eastern US or worse inside large cities would be closed even turned over to the Park Service. We know why there still there and tradition is bullshit. Their there to dazzle Congressmen and Senators on visits and to be close to the White House and the Pentagon.

I think Congressmen are less dazzled than self-interested. Base closure is a serious blow to the local economy. Some Congressmen survive a base closure in their districts. Others do not.

Realistically, the only way to make closures of smaller Army posts work is to align units of every type with the existing base structure. If you can’t have any heavy brigades in a state with insufficient maneuver space at its posts, then many states east of the Mississippi will lose what heavy units they have left in their National Guards. I’m okay with this, since I’ve already advocated that the combat units ought to go the active Army.

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

8) Joint Bases. This would be the new normal. Where ever possible all installations would be multi-service.

A good idea. Lots of politics will emerge as the services jockey for key leadership positions on the combined posts, though.

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

9) Ditch the short and quick Non Commissioned Officer Courses. The Primary Leadership Development Course is the first induction into the NCO Corps. This course should be the damned hardest. Candidates should have to show a commitment like re-enlisting to get to into it. The Course should be at a minimum 12 months classified as a hardship tour without relocation of dependents. The Graduates should all be very proficient in Infantry Operations regardless of the MOS, be able to operate any weapon system, use any radio, and drive any vehicle that is not aircraft or watercraft greater than a RIB craft. The lectures and presentations given by students on facets of military history, tactics, strategy, and concepts of the operational art should graduate each student with an Associates degree in Military Science. If their Professional Soldiers than Professional training with formal classes and measured results should be standard.

Another excellent idea. This one would require improving the pool of candidates, though. There would have to be a much higher throughput of junior enlisted folks through the forces to yield the required quality at the team leader level. Let’s face it: a lot of the junior enlisted folks are guys and gals who didn’t do well at school.

I do like the idea of a serious firebreak in the enlisted progression, though. In addition to my previous comments on improving pay and privileges for the infantry, I’d improve pay for E-5 and above. (I’d pay for it by getting rid of 40-50% of the general officers and 25-30% of the field grade officers.) That way, an enlistee can do his/her single enlistment, get the bennies, and feel good about serving his country. But the real carrot ought to lie just on the other side of selection for PLDC and promotion to E-5.

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

10) Controversial idea. Reduce the carrier fleet and increase the Submarine fleet. More SLBMs afloat. The Carrier itself is beginning to be threaten by ballistic missiles (China is first here) with non nuclear warheads anywhere at sea in the missiles radius. Reduce the Navy Carriers to six with two at sea in the areas of most interest. Give two to the Coast Guard for humanitarian missions and disaster relief missions. CG aircraft carriers with Opreys and Helos would benefit missions on the scale of Katrina and the SE Asian Tsunami event. more rants to follow.

That is a controversial idea.