We didn't need all that stuff, and it was costing us a fortune to maintain it. It has been argued for two decades that our force structure needs revamping, with much more emphasis on light, mobile forces rather than the big iron we built to rumble with the Warsaw Pact on the plains of Central Europe.

The military always prepares to fight the last war. When the next war comes along, the brass find they've got battleships, when what they need is aircraft carriers.

Incidentally, I'm a little troubled by these reports of our Special Forces lugging around up to 100 lbs. of gear. Our regular infantry might need that much stuff, but I wonder if the special ops guys do.

Neverthess, I'm very confident in the equipment, morale, and training of our forces. In any tussle with the Taliban, we should be able to kick ass, and take names.

sp