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Breaking

the Army… Half of American

soldiers think we are likely to succeed in Iraq; more than 1/3 say we

shouldn’t have invaded in the first place. It costs $275,000 to deploy

a soldier in Iraq for a year. It costs $5,840 to feed him. Army doctrine

recommends deploying 20 soldiers for every 1,000 residents of an area

with insurgents in it. Baghdad, a city of 6 million, would require 120,000

troops; 20,000 are there now. Nearly 1/3 of the troops deployed in Iraq

and Afghanistan have served multiple tours. “I don’t think they can sustain

the rotations the way they are right now without really starting to have

severe readiness issues in the Army much more than another year,” said

retired Brig. General David Grange in December. Some military equipment

used in Iraq has experienced the equivalent of 27 years of use in 3 years.

It costs $17 billion a year to replace worn and lost equipment.

…and

the National Guard and Reserves

The Pentagon

has ordered the National Guard to transfer $1.76 billion worth of equipment

to the Army. Transferring gear overseas has left domestic Guard units

with 1/3 of their essential combat equipment. 7,040 Army National Guard

soldiers were deployed to Vietnam; 126 died. More than 100,000 have served

in Iraq so far; 392 have died. Deploying reservists in Iraq costs the

U.S. economy almost $4 billion in lost productivity annually.

The

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