But we no longer have them, not by a long shot. An Army that used five and a half heavy divisions in the Persian Gulf War today has a worldwide total of only six. It is chronically and critically short of helicopter pilots, in particular, and junior-grade and noncommissioned officers generally. The Navy lacks 1,000 mission-specified pilots and has 18,000 unfilled billets in its shrinking fleet of ships. Aircraft carriers now go to sea understaffed by as many as 1,000 sailors.
Similar shortages obtain in the other services.
And no service comes close to adequately equipping its troops. The Air Force's stockpile of air-launched cruise missiles is almost entirely depleted. Last August, the Marine Aircraft Group at Cherry Point, North Carolina, was ordered to fly its 42 Harrier jets out of the path of approaching Hurricane Bonnie. And so on. Six months ago, the Clinton administration released a multi-year Defense Department budget plan.