US: Broken down - what the war in Iraq has done to the US army and how to fix it

Below are summary from Times magazine 23.4.2007

US problem
- US rush army to iraq without giving them proper training. 2 out of 5 they go thru 9 weeks basic training, additional preparation in infantry tactics. they skip the 4 weeks iraq pre training - a taste of what troops will face in combat and instead replace by 10 days of weapon, first aid and Iraqi culture. as a result many soldiers are dying thou US insist that they have adequate training and that they can get the aditional training in Iraq.

- The budget 4 defense reflect the times of cold war. US spend more on air force and navy but very little in the army (25%). as a result they are underfunded and many machinery are very old. soldiers are poorly equip. when word got out that they are poorly equip, they had a harder time recruiting. eg:many transport division die when delivering because many are poorly equip. previously US do not see why the transport division have to equip themselves. as a result the understaff army and poorly equip army has a harder time hiring.

- further they dont have enough troops and they lower standard when recruit soldiers. Recruiters face challenge as they try to permanently add 65k of troops. they lower standard by hiring felony and drop outs.

Overall the US army are not suitable for long war. When they invade Iraq they thought that they have to remain there till election of new prime minister in Iraq. however they are mistaken.

How to fix
- reallocate budget by redirecting the funds from air force and navy to the army.
- increase budget for defense could restore army's health. Instead of a 3.8% allocation, a 4% out of GDP is better estimate. sometimes budget are only 3% between 1999-2001.
- emphasize diplomacy and not war