[The Chattanoogan.com] Lately I've seen a fair amount of criticism of the President's National Security Strategy by retired generals and admirals. Let me throw in my two cents worth. First, I know a little something about generals and admirals. I was one of them for 13 of my 39 years of active military service. Indeed, I personally know most of the ones who are currently expressing themselves regarding Presidential leadership.
For starters, please understand that since World War II America has pretty much been at war -- continuously. There have been at least 25 wars in which we've participated since WWII. Call them what you will, but to a young sergeant, war is war. Some of these wars have been repeats so the real number approaches 30. Many are so-called "small" conflicts -- again tell that to a young sergeant under fire -- but several have been major including Korea, Vietnam, the 1st Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan. If you add CIA operations where the military has been surreptitiously involved, the total number is closer to 40. In just over 70 years we've been actively engaged in up to 40 overseas wars where American service members have been engaged and American wealth has been expended.
That's more than one war every two years. Do we really have that many enemies? What's going on here? And, the cost of these wars has been in multiples of trillions of dollars -- dollars that might otherwise have been put into better future military readiness, infrastructure, lower taxes, social programs, or into a balanced budget.
In short, near continuous wars have been maiming and killing our youth and draining our wealth pretty much continuously since World War II. For all this, today we have an indescribable $21 trillion national debt. And Americans are riding into space on Russian rockets and returning to earth in Kazakhstan -- Kazakhstan! We've sure come a long way since being able to land astronauts on the moon in 1969 and bringing space shuttles home to landings at Cape Kennedy. Meanwhile we have military missions in over 70 countries worldwide. That's over a third of all the countries on Earth.
About the author:
During his 39-year active duty career, Bell's command positions included L Troop, 3d Squadron, 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment; D troop, 5th Reconnaissance Squadron; the 2nd Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized); and the 24th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team. Bell deployed as General Schwarzkopf's Executive Officer in Desert Shieldand Desert Storm; and later served as Chief of Staff, USAREUR Forward Headquarters, Taszar, Hungary during Operation Joint Endeavor in the Balkans.
As a BGen, from June 1995 through August 1996, he served as an Assistant Division Commander in both the 3d and 1st Infantry Divisions located at Warner Barracks in Bamberg, Germany.
From August 1996 to July 1999 he served as Chief of Staff of V Corps, and as DCSOPS and subsequently Chief of Staff, United States Army, Europe and 7th Army.
As a MGen, he commanded the U.S. Army Armor Center and Fort Knox from July 1999 through August 2001.
As a LtGen Bell commanded the Army's III Corps from August 2001 to November 2002, headquartered at Fort Hood, Texas.
Following Corps Command, Bell was promoted to four-star general and commanded the United States Army, Europe (USAEUR) and 7th Army, as well as NATO's Land Component Command, Heidelberg, Germany. On completion of his command assignments in Europe, in 2006 Bell was reassigned to South Korea where he commanded U.S. Forces, Korea, the Korea—U.S. Combined Forces Command, and the United Nations Command.
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