Linkmeister

Overextended?

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A report just out says the Army is overextended, nearly to a breaking point. As you would expect, Rummy denies it.

I have a little experience with an overextended force. Back in 1973 I was stationed at the US Naval Communications Station in Japan. In May the Navy decided to institute what was called an "early out," which meant that anyone who was scheduled to get out of the Navy within 60 or 90 days (I can't remember which) would be able to get out earlier than his original date.

We ran four shifts of roughly 25 people apiece, 24/7. When the early release took effect, in the aggregate we lost nearly an entire shift. This meant that we went from our usual schedule of two day shifts, two mid shifts and two swing shifts (first table) to a cycle of one day shift, one mid shift, and one swing shift (second table). This lasted for about a month, until we got a new class of newbies from the training schools in San Diego and Great Lakes. This was certainly what I'd call "overextended." And nobody was shooting at us.

Posted by Linkmeister at January 25, 2006 11:43 AM | TrackBack