CRYSTAL CITY, Va.---"One of the strengths of the U.S. Army is the aggregate power (of the) active, National Guard and Army Reserve. This is unique strength,'' the president of the Association of the United States Army told senior Army Reserve leaders. But he warned that in the new strategic review undertaken by the Bush administration that there is a danger in adopting "unproven theories'' such as taking a "strategic pause'' and "skipping a generation of equipment'' when it reaches its conclusions on future national defense budgets and strategy.
Speaking to more than 400 attendees at the leadership conference May 19, Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret., and AUSA president, said, to protect the nation's and its allies' interests that the nation's armed forces must be complementary and balanced "in technology and human resources to meet the needs of the world (in which) we live as it is. Not as we wish it to be.'' Adding later in his address that he found it "specious'' that the nation should take a "strategic pause'' because the United States does not face a peer competitor equivalent to the Soviet Union or Germany in 1939 today.
"I think that is an unproven theory. I think what has been proven is that that kind of thinking leads us to results such as we saw in Korea in 1950.'' He said that he did not believe potential enemies of the United States were taking a "strategic pause'' now or would in the future. "I'll be darned if I can figure out what (''skipping a generation of equipment") means. ...Signing up for either of those two theories is saying that we are just going to continue the downsizing of the United States Army.''
He said he believes the Army is becoming too small already and "our equipment is becoming woefully outdated and old.'' Sullivan said that he opposed trading off personnel to pay for technology. He termed soldiers as the "most flexible force'' available to the president in dealing with a crisis.
He said that until the last year defense spending has been heading down since 1985 and has declined even more as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product. "We must ensure... that the Army's share of the defense top line must, must go up to pay for the service of people like you as you serve around the world and modernize the force.''
Sullivan said it was too early to tell what the 107th Congress would do with the defense budget. The administration has not yet sent its detailed and revised budget plan to Capitol Hill for Fiscal Year 2002. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is scheduled to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee Wednesday, and President George W. Bush is scheduled to deliver the commencement address at the Naval Academy Friday. Those appearances would provide more details on where the defense Department will be heading in the coming year, defense analysts said.
"If we're not careful, we're going to repeat the lessons that the U.S. Army and this nation learned in 1950 when we fought a war in a place that nobody predicted we would ever fight a war and we demonstrated the results of taking our eye off the ball. We must be very careful that that doesn't happen again,'' Sullivan said. He cited the sacrifices and heroism of Army reservists in the Korean War where more than 240,000 of them served and 12 Medals of Honor were awarded. "The Army Reserve paid in full for that disaster.''
In 1950, Sullivan added that after five years of deep cuts in the Army "we were telling ourselves that atomic weapons, strategic aircraft... were going to keep the world safe for democracy. Don't believe it. Don't believe it. It's troops on the ground. It's people present for duty everyday'' in places like Korea, the Sinai, Europe "wherever the United States' interests are threatened.''
He said that the American people expect success every time their armed forces are engaged. "And they don't expect people like us in uniform... to be wringing our hands about 'we didn't get enough money.' ...It's suck it up and win. It's our job to succeed.''
Quoting Vice President Richard Cheney when he was secretary of defense on "paying attention to the lessons of history,'' Sullivan said that he "set us on the pathway to keep the (all the armed) forces balanced, so that we can fight and win the nation's wars wherever those wars might be.''
Sullivan said he was concerned that some defense initiatives could lead the United States to investing in a future Maginot Line, France's decision on how to best defend itself against Germany after World War I. "Is it this plexiglas shield surrounding this whole world? ...We have to be very careful that we do not get into this box'' of believing that "war will be bloodless.''
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AUSA President Warns About Accepting 'Unproven Theories' In Shaping Future Defense Budgets, Strategy
