We're damned short on troops. In 1991, there were about 2 million of us on active duty in the military. Some 500,000 of us were "peace dividended" out of uniform starting in 1992. To give you an idea how sharp the cuts were, at the start of 1992, there were approximately 2,000 Air Force officers in my category (Reserve commission, 1985 year group, non-pilots). At the end of the year, there were 105, a 94% kill ratio.

The number is closer to 1.2 million today. That's for all branches of the military, not just the Army. Our troops are stretched damned thin right now, so finding 100,000 more troops to send to Iraq will prove difficult. It's even harder than that - troops are not trained for every mission. There isn't a great need for heavy armor units in Iraq any more, nor for artillery, anti-aircraft units, and many other military specialties. Right now, they need more infantry-type personnel (and sadly, medics). There are only so many to go around.

Here in Colorado Springs, we're welcoming home the last of some 10,000 troops from Fort Carson fom a year in Iraq. Similar situations exist at other Army posts. We could turn them around and send them back, but that would be tough on them and their families. We have troops in other countries and we could move them to Iraq, and the Army and Marines are doing so. However, you have to be careful that you don't cause other problems. For example, right now, pulling troops from South Korea might not be a good idea. The fact that we recently sent Marines in to replace Army troops is an indication of how thin we're spread - Marines are normally an expeditionary force, not an occupation force.

What we may well need are a couple more divisions. However, it can take a long time to create, base, equip, and train a couple divisions (typically around 15,000 personnel per division). It can't happen overnight, nor could we likely do it this year. It isn't like 1942 any more. We could shorten the equipment demands by going with Light Infantry and using whatever equipment is available from the stockpiles.