Today's military, while somewhat strained and overworked, remains strong and competent enough to handle the kinds of missions contemplated by current Pentagon plans. And, as Gen. Henry H. Shelton, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pointed out, Bush was plainly wrong when he said in his speech that two Army divisions are unready for duty. See related research on the revolution in military affairs . Although there are dozens of ways to assess the readiness of our armed forces, they can be grouped into four main categories. Consider first the men and women of the military.
Personnel are more experienced and better educated than ever.
Anyone who doubts the abilities of U.S. troops need only review their outstanding performance in last year's Kosovo war, ongoing peacekeeping missions in the Balkans and the no-fly zone operations over Iraq. As for available weaponry, although most U.S. military equipment is not in quite as good shape as it was a decade ago, it is comparable to the condition of weaponry during the Reagan era. Historically, that is pretty good. Altogether, the quality of people, equipment and training has given us a military in very fine shape. But it must be pointed out that the threats have gotten smaller, too.