Barnett's QDR

More from Thomas Barnett on the Quadrennial Defense Review:

I think the Navy and Air Force should reduce their force structure ambitions for the long term and accept the notion that funding should be shifted from their services to the Army and Marines to accommodate their rising manpower and current equipment costs. I think you can take basically every new platform requirement enunciated by both services and cut them in half, filling in by continuing to buy current technologies rather than upgrading them in these new platforms. I would then shift those acquisition savings to the Marines and the Army to allow them to plus-up their end strength and treat them better by shortening their overseas deployments (historically, the Navy has preferred to send out its ships for 6-month deployments, so why not the same for soldiers and Marines, instead of year-long affairs?).

I think that there should have been a freeze on new Navy and AF weapons procurement right after 9/11, with savings going to equipping our ground forces. But now that maybe perhaps things are winding down in Iraq, why not cut the grounds troops?