In less than a year we can take an 18 year old man from a civilian to a fighting man.?

Why would they? They've got the most powerful army in the world fighting for them right now. What incentive is there to stepping into those shoes?

Yes, you are right.

But how long does it take to train the Corporals in our Army?

The squad leaders?

The platoon Sgt's ?

The Platoon leaders?

The company commanders?

The battalion commander?

Thats what most people forget.

During WW ll it took 2 1/2 years to train a new Army Division, even after they started with experienced NCO's and Officers.

Training the individual soldiers is just the first step.

Then you have to train the squads

Then the platoons

Then the companies

Then the battalions.

Why aren't the former soldiers stepping foward?

Because most of them were Sunni's, and Iraq is a majority Shia nation.

What do you think the life expectancy of a sunni soldier would be , in a shia dominated Company?

First we had to start fresh in Iraq. The recruits there were screened very carefully to make sure they were not loyal to Sadam. Then we had to teach them how to be soldiers and intern teach them how to teach soldiers. We also did let form Iraqi Army officers and soldiers back in but not before we made sure they were not going to turn on us, which has happened a few times. One of the biggest obstacles was the fact that in there Army the officers ran every thing. In our Army the officers pass down the orders and the Non Commissioned officers carry out these orders by planning the operation selecting the equipment and men, then executing the mission. Giving our Officers more time to build strategies and pass the orders to us. To them the NCO corps was non existence there officers were the leaders, planers, and discipliners. We had to teach them how to rely on there NCOs’ to accomplish the mission and had to teach the NCOs’ how to successfully conduct a mission. There is a lot more to battle than there is the bad guy, shoot. We must maintain Fire superiority and over whelm the enemy with intelligence as well as well placed fire. That is one of the reasons our military are as strong as they are, we have people up top planning the battle and NCOs’ in the middle and bottom making it happen. With out successful leaders no army will prevail on the battle field. To be a successful leader you must count on your subordinates leaders to fulfill there mission. So to take a ender trained and ender lead army from what it was to what it is today has been a mission in it self.. So to know why it takes so long ask you self how long does it take to make a successful American officer and NCO a good leader. I know it takes years to Mike one man into a leader and years to teach him all the things he will need to be the one making the decisions. Generals are not born over night they are built and molded from there leaders and peers

Some men do better than others when it comes to combat training.

I think we need a boarding school or acadamy that raises soldiers rather than one that trains ordinary men to become soldiers.

Take a boy (maybe even girls) in his first years of life, have him eat & sleep combat. These children would grow up to be our finest soldiers. At age 18 they could be placed in whatever areas of the world that we need them to be.

This makes much more sence than taking an 18 year old kid who has never known anything but comforts & complacency - then expecting him to perform the duties of a killer.

Our bred fighters wouldn't have thier minds clouded by thoughts of family, loved ones or civilian life. They would have the instincts of a hungry animal & the will power to accomplish the task at hand. These are the fighters we need.

Our military would be feared & respected world wide.

I'm against the Iraq occupation in the first place, but to help you understand the reason why this isn't an easy task, imagine this:

A foreign country comes in to America and topples our government. One of the first acts the occupying country does is to disband our military. The volunteer troops.

Now, you try and rebuild the military. Well, you have to choose people who had not originally joined the military voluntarily. So you have the criminals, the mercenaries, the shopkeepers, the journalists, etc.

This would not be an easy task...and is one reason we should do everything in our power to prevent the draft from ever haunting us again.

Very different situations. Our military are volunteers who train in the stability of the US. They have the support of a strong and continuous system. That's certainly very different from the situation in Iraq. We can't be entirely sure that the "volunteers" there truly want to support that military. Some may have opposing views, others may be there purely out of desperation.

Iraq has become the "welfare mother" of all nations...strangely enough cons are more than happy to throw money at them while the Iraqis do nothing but complain

Because our guys are trained in a controlled environment. The Iraqi's are trained in a battlefield.

ha ha ha... no one knows.

The bath party fled the country fearing that the US would take them as prisioners. We also initially would not let them be in charge of anything fearing that they would stage a rebellion against us. It was a major mistake on our part.. but, you know.. there were no bio chemical weapons either.

In the US, it is far easier to perform medical screenings and thorough background checks.

Try to do the same in Iraq, throw in a language barrier or two, cultural differences, and then you got a problem on your hands.