Military Spared Belt-Tightening Budget
 

The Obama administration plans to unveil a defense budget this morning that pours billions into drones, helicopters and special forces, reflecting a focus on fighting Islamist extremists rather than conventional armies.
The Pentagon's spending priorities as well as its strategic vision --- which is also due to be unveiled this week --- are a product of the counter-insurgency campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan that have severely stretched the military.
The proposed 2011 defense budget comes to more than $700 billion, a modest two percent increase, and unlike last year avoids sweeping cuts to major weapons programs, according to Pentagon officials and draft documents.


http://www.military.com/news/article...ml?ESRC=dod.nl






So Obama submitted a the Defense budget on Monday. I find it interesting in that it is an actual increase, but it is also transforming the military. It seems to focus more on unconventional warfare. I also find it interesting that the QDR is discarding the two and a half wars doctrine.

What? I don't know what this means at all. What is the QDR? What is the two and a half wars doctrine? How can you have half a war?

The 2 and a half war doctrine was part of the Flexible Response defense protocols JFK instituted during his presidency. Basically, it's the idea that the US military should, during a time of peace, have the ability to fight simultaneously 2 large (i.e., regional) wars as well as a small brushfire war.

I think it's interesting that it's being disregarded, but in today's world so much of what we do is tied up together despite being on different fronts that it might be difficult to say "well, that's war A, and that's war B".

xxstardust did a good job explaining the Two and a half war doctrine. And the QDR is the Quadrennial Defense Review. It is essentially a report that has to be put out every four years exploring the military in all aspects. And I think the reason it is being discarded is the fact that the face of warfare is changing. With the collapse of the USSR in 91(?) there is no real danger of a large scale ground war. The face of warfare is now more irregular tactics then anything else. Case in point, the increase purchase of Reaper UAVs.

o.k. I'm all for the increase in military spending, it's just that I'm not for spending money on a war that really isn't a war. We think it is, but in reality it's really kind of an ideal that we're fighting. There's no way a war like that can be won. It's too widely spread.

Absolutely