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December 5, 2006 [LINK / comment]
Military equipment wearing out
Every day we see fresh evidence that our military personnel are under growing strain after repeated combat tours in Iraq, but the problem extends to the equipment side as well. Today's Washington Post describes the massive backlog of over a thousand damaged M-1 Abrams tanks, M-2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and other equipment that is waiting to be repaired at the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama. An estimated $17 billion worth of Army and Marine equipment is lost each year, including pieces that are blown up or just worn out. The net result of all the battle losses (including IED blasts) is that many American ground units are rated as not ready for combat. This means that the United States is hamstrung in its ability to project force in various global crisis spots, such as the Korean peninsula. It's one more manifestation of the phenomenon of "imperial overstretch," the term coined by historian Paul Kennedy, when a great power is at the point of exhaustion and can no longer sustain the effort to stabilize regions beyond its own borders.
Battle of Moscow
It was sixty five years ago today (1941) that the Red Army began a massive counteroffensive that pushed the Germans back from the gates of Moscow. German tanks and artillery pieces were totally worn out after pushing several hundred miles across the Russian plains in the blitzkrieg, and most of them simply broke down in the subzero temperatures that winter. The Germans were lucky they were able to stabilize the front and resume their offensive in 1942.
Posted (or last updated or commented upon): 05 Dec 2006, 11: 33 PM
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Hits on this page (single blog post) since July 2, 2007: 
Category archives:
(all years)
Baseball
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War
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This (or that) year's
blog highlights
January 7, 2006 ~ DeLay gives up majority leader post
January 12, 2006 ~ Alito withstands Dems' "torture"
January 16, 2006 ~ Michelle Bachelet wins in Chile
January 19, 2006 ~ Views on Iran's nuclear ambitions
January 24, 2006 ~ Fallout from Canada's election
January 31, 2006 ~ Second (& third) thoughts on Iran
February 1, 2006 ~ The State of the Union, 2006
February 8, 2006 ~ D.C. Council votes "yes," but...
February 18, 2006 ~ Checks and balances in wartime
February 22, 2006 ~
Neocons & Neolibs: chastened alike
February 28, 2006 ~
The Dubai Ports World uproar
March 14, 2006 ~ New D.C. baseball stadium unveiled
March 24, 2006 ~ In the footsteps of France?
April 7, 2006 ~ Immigration compromise fails
May 16, 2006 ~ Bush militarizes Mexican border
June 6, 2006 ~ Alan Garcia triumphs, once again
June 9, 2006 ~
Zarqawi: The death of a terrorist
July 3, 2006 ~
Election in Mexico: too close to call
July 5, 2006 ~ North Korea goes ballistic
July 28, 2006 ~ Garcia prepares to lead Peru, again
August 4, 2006 ~ Israel invades Hezbolland
September 6, 2006 ~ "Crunchy conservatives": for real?
September 25, 2006 ~ Nationalists thwart conservation
October 3, 2006 ~ Nationals: Year in review
October 29, 2006 ~ Virginia's marriage amendment
November 7, 2006 ~ The people render their verdict
November 8, 2006 ~ Republicans lose big time
November 9, 2006 ~ Allen concedes / Election post-mortem
November 13, 2006 ~ Toward consensus on Iraq?
December 1, 2006 ~ Realism and our goals in Iraq
December 6, 2006 ~ Latin America & U.S. trade policy
December 8, 2006 ~ Iraq Study Group reports
December 22, 2006 ~ Yuletide political roundup
Blog highlights have been compiled for the years 2010-2012 thus far, and eventually will be compiled for earlier years, back to 2002.
Explanation
The "home made" blog organization system that I created was instituted on November 1, 2004, followed by several functional enhancements in subsequent years. I make no more than one blog post per day on any one category, so some posts may cover multiple news items or issues. Blog posts appear in the following (reverse alphabetical) order, which may differ from the chronological order in which the posts were originally made:
- Wild birds (LAST)
- War
- Science & Technology
- Politics
- Latin America
- Culture & Travel
- Canaries ("Home birds")
- Baseball (FIRST)
Also see: My blog practices.
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