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Managing change in any environment is a difficult tiger to tame. When thought about in

the scope of tens of thousands of human lives required to fight a war, one has to greatly ponder

the value of human lives that are faced with the uncertainty of death. This begs the question,

what do we do with the Armys increase in strength to best epitomize the value of these lives? I

think this must be brought to focus on the long term goal of winning a very long counter

insurgent war. All additional forces go toward increasing combat power. To increase combat

power, three issues need addressed. First, they need to help our wounded veterans. Second, they

need to rest and recover from our deployments. Third, they need to train more unconventionally

to give the nations back to the people of that nation.

Tend to our wounded. Many emotional and physical scars need assistance in healing.

This healing needs to come from soldiers who understand the stress of the wounds. I argue

civilians are not the answers to the wounded soldiers but rather other soldiers who have seen the

same reality and the same hardships. The need for these soldiers is urgent because the army is

today unable to actually deploy about 30,000 of its soldiers. About 10,000 of these soldiers are

wounded warriors who support the recovery of these American heroes.1 We are a volunteer

army. Failure to tend to our wounded will negatively impact our recruiting capability. The

Army has to portray their steadfast commitment to the soldiers that they will not be forgotten at

the end of this war.

Moreover, rest and recovery are important aspects of a soldiers health. The prolonged

one year mobilized tour and one year home has taken a dreadful toll. This cycle needs broken

with the increase in strength. One year isnt enough time to prepare for the last part of the

process, better training, let alone the family unifying. Some soldiers deployed every other year

for the last 8 years. The deployments are villains in the family, taking someone away from those

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precious moments of family life, holidays, births and deaths. In many cases, the one year home

is marred with disruption of a permanent change of station. In the year home, a soldier has to get

acquainted with a new area and prepare the family for the next deployment. This is hardly a

contiguous time of normalcy for any family unit to stay cohesive.

Finally, these soldiers need trained in more unconventional warfare (UW). Whether they

are true special operations forces performing the missions or conventional forces trained in UW

processes, the continuity of UW operations is needed against this enemy we face. Brute

conventional warfare will not win the hearts and minds of the people. We are occupying their

country and only want that they form a government friendly to the US and establish a rule of

law, consistent with western perceptions of human rights. This asks a lot from a common sheep

herder or mountain farmer engrained with a different social norm. Soldiers need to learn how to

be a cog in the wheel of this paradigm shift for third world peoples. The training needs to help

them shift their culture, not completely but slightly, toward western perceptions.

The Armys increase in end strength needs to increase the combat power of the force. It

must help the wounded, give longer rest periods for family bonding, and more training in UW

warfare. These actions will continue to drive the force towards excellence and keep soldiers

confident in their mission.

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ENDNOTES

1. Philip Terzian, The Lieberman Amendment, August 15, 2009, The Weekly Standard