widowson:

shift more twords boots of the ground, which we badly need, and a few less big ticket items, which we have enough of.

Who's going to fill these boots? This generation has shown distaste for service in search of the paycheck. I suspect it's the backlash that should be expected from the children of those who were too young for Vietnam and too apathetic or unavoidably detained by yuppidom to give a few years to their country.