Australian military struggles with growth & over commitment just like the CF

[McG]

Australia says its military is overstretched
JAMES GRUBEL
Reuters
March 18, 2008 at 5:38 AM EDT

CANBERRA — Australia's defence forces are over-stretched and in urgent need of reinforcements if the country is to maintain its overseas commitments, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said on Tuesday.

A close ally of the United States, Australia has almost 4,000 soldiers, sailors and air crews serving overseas, with forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and seven other deployments, with the military at its busiest operational tempo since the Vietnam War.

“The defence organization is under significant pressure in maintaining this tempo and the requirement for future deployments is likely to continue for some years,” Mr. Fitzgibbon said in a speech to a strategic policy think tank on Tuesday.

“Our forces are overstretched,” he added.

His comments are the first time the government has said its military can no longer sustain its high workload, and are a shift from the former conservative government, which said the defence forces could cope with its commitments.

Australia has about 51,000 military personnel, supplemented by about 20,000 reservists, but is struggling to fill its recruitment targets due to a booming economy and unemployment at record lows.

Australia has about 1,500 troops in and around Iraq, and about 1,000 in Afghanistan, as well as 750 on the ground to help maintain peace and order in East Timor.

Australia also has troops in the Solomon Islands, and small numbers deployed with multi-national forces in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, and with UN forces in the Sudan and in the Middle East.

Mr. Fitzgibbon said that meant up to 12,000 defence personnel would be involved in the deployment cycles over the coming year, either preparing to go overseas, returning from a mission or being involved in an operation.

At the same time, Australia is trying to raise two new army battalions, and find sailors for new air warfare destroyers, submarines and amphibious ships.

“If we don't soon begin to make more progress on the recruitment and retention front, we will not be able to meet future challenges with success,” Mr. Fitzgibbon said.

Mr. Fitzgibbon, who became Defence Minister after the centre-left Labor Party won power last November after almost 12 years of conservative rule, has promised to pull about 550 soldiers out of Iraq at the end of their deployment.

He said the soldiers were no longer needed in Iraq's more peaceful south, and their return would free up numbers to help Australia deal with problems that may arise closer to home.

“Having so many people and resources tied up in over-watch role was not sustainable,” he said.

From the Globe & Mail

 

[geo]

Same song, verse and tune I see.......

It's something to be from one of the world's few democracies

 

[54/102 CEF]

If you want to fight a war - you have to declare a war - then go on a war footing - risk your government for your beliefs....... but that might cut into Canapé Hour at certain Pubs near the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

Aint been done here - UK - USA - or Oz.

 

[54/102 CEF]

If you want to fight a war - you have to declare a war - then go on a war footing - risk your government for your beliefs....... but that might cut into Canapé Hour at certain Pubs near the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

Aint been done here - UK - USA - or Oz.

Our politicians and senior Burocrats in DND should read this - then write a Canadian version - then read it to each other every day of the week. You can't make a wish that something will happen - Show me the money

http://www.afji.com/2008/03/3358800

An Extract

Difficult as it is to say, Dwight Eisenhower was right about the military-industrial complex, and now it includes the Pentagon, the defense industry and those delegations of Congress that view defense contracts primarily as jobs programs for their home districts. The result is that we have gold-plated ourselves out of the marketplace, and until we can get our acquisition programs under control, we should examine opportunities to work with shipbuilders in Norway, Germany and Australia who are building capable small combatants and submarines for pennies on the dollar. This is the only type of wake-up call that our home industries will listen to. There is, however, another alternative. We could ask again for an increase in the defense budget.

If we are at war, and all evidence suggests that we are and that it will be a long one, then we need to be funded at wartime levels — and no, I am not talking about the supplementals that can go away at a moment’s notice. In World War II, the percentage of the gross domestic product devoted to defense was 38 percent. During the Korean War, the number hovered around 13 percent. Even as late as Vietnam, the nation committed 8 percent of its GDP to the defense of another nation and wrote off the sacrifice as a necessary campaign in the Cold War against Soviet communism. Today, we find ourselves fighting an enemy who has attacked us on our own soil, murdering 3,000 of our fellow citizens, and we seem unwilling to codify our commitment to fight in real, programmed dollars. Something is wrong here.

 

[Red 6]

You're absolutely right. This idea that we are in the "fight for the 21st century" yet the armed forces are getting shoe-stringed (again) just bugs me to no end. People complain about the cost of gas, but no where are we told to conserve for the war effort. (That's just an example) Where are the war bonds? The news services play into it by selectively broadcasting when things so south in the war zones, but you hear hardly a peep about what else is happening. Our real war effort is borne by a very small slice of the population and to everyone else, it's barely a blip on the radar screen.

cheers, Mark

 

[geo]

War Bonds?..... Now there's a thought.
I figure that the governments have figured out that they can run up deficits without going to the trouble of doing something special to finance the war effort.... what's a little more debt when you're already on the hook for billions & have mortgaged your children's future prosperity?

Fuel ration coupons anyone?