to do with a perfectly good army.

There is a fierce—and honest—debate going on over whether, and to what degree, the Army overall should be shifting toward counterinsurgency and away from conventional combat.

You already have counterinsurgency specialists in the army. They are called Special Forces. If the US is trying to help an ally put down an insurgency, the SF works with the local army to make it more effective.

And that should be the limit of the US Army's involvement in Iraq at this point. Maybe not even that. But certainly no more than that.

When you decide to get your whole high tech, highly lethal, highly mechanized army wrapped up in security and stability operations, you get bizarre shit like artillery units working as prison guards. And here's what else you get.

you lose your war with the army you have, not the army you want.

If I had to choose between an army of lifers ignorant outside their own specialties and an army of lifers who had to be jacks of all trades, I'd choose the latter. First, they'd bring unexpected expertise to many situations. Second, the army would be a more interesting career and its soldiers would be brighter and more adaptable types. Third, the force would have a healthier appreciation of its limits.

As for the bad artillery shots . . . artillery ain't the god of war no more, and probably never will be again. You really think we're gonna fight the Russians?

I'll take my NCOs specialized, any day. And I think that's the way they like it too. At least that's what the ones I knew told me. They enjoyed the mastery. Let the officers be the generalists.

Now I wasn't fighting the Russians in Vietnam, but I shot a hell of a lot of artillery in support of squad-sized patrols (once my company commander was sure I knew what I was doing), because I could get a 105 mission on target faster and more accurate than 81s.

I think you'll get a kick out of these two threads on the subject:

In this one at IntelDump my hero is the guy called FDChief

...if we are remaking our ground forces based on the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq we are, in effect, taking our lessons from fools.

this other one at Small Wars Journal has a lot of Command and Staff College-level stuff, and I never took soldiering that far, but I like to try to keep up with anyway it because my son's in the army now.

.

Sorry, I honestly don't know people on the Fray anymore (if I ever did). But I do remember asking for a recipe for Hungarian turkey soup, and if that was you, I ought to put you in my will. I've given two very successful dinners with that recipe, plus my (then) girlfriend loved it. It's been a while since I made it, so thanks for reminding me. Freezer moose is getting kind of old.

cause I remember I was still at the restaurant then

This one is more recent

So thank you for calling my attention to it. From you, goes right to the top of the list. I'll give you a report on how it works out.