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Willingness vs Readiness
By Maj P
My quaint and amusing local paper is a goldmine of interesting subjects today.
See this: "War Stirs Worry in Israel Over State of Military".
Now, I believe that when this dust-up started, I asked aloud if the famously fit IDF reserves were as fit as they could be. I was never in doubt about their courage and conviction. What I wanted to know is how well they were organized into cohesive units, how well they trained in those units, and what was the state of their equipment and material. Willingness is a state of mind; readiness is a statement of fact.
If there is a problem with reserve readiness, you can bet that it will come up in the Knesset and there will be changes made.
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Interesting short article on limitations of the air war in Lebanon. The magazine was published just before the cease fire according to an editors note.
Interesting article on limitations of the air war in Lebanon from the Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies periodical Strategic Assessment:
No links but I'm sure you could find them if you wanted, but I read on the net as far back as 2003, that the IDF budget cuts and other problems they were haveing was causing problems and the IDF was none too happy about it.
It seems that their Air Force and Missile Defense has been taking a lot of money and the ground pounders and reserve were getting little and wanting much more.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it.
But to be fair, digging rats out of tunnels is the worse duty imaginable. Just ask a few of our vets. Of course, the rats having almost the latest in anti-armor weapons didn't help one little bit.
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
I don’t know, man. I’m worried about the Israeli Army.
In almost every picture or video I saw, those soldiers looked pretty damn sorry. I’m sure they didn’t want to be there, and maybe they didn’t expect to be where they were on such short notice. That might have been a big part of it.
But they didn’t look fit, they didn’t look sharp, they didn’t look aware. They looked, well, damn near French.
Maybe I’m spoiled by the sight of gung ho, muscle bound US Marines, with adrenaline pumping, daring somebody to shoot at them.
But even when I compare pictures of our female reserve supply soldiers with the IDF front line guys, well, I think our chicks could give them a run for their money. Most of our women look like they could take a couple bullets at least, and maybe even return fire. And I have read reports where they have done so. But a lot of those IDF guys look like their wrists would snap if they ever have to fire their Beretta.
So IMO, the Israelis were most definitely not ready for this fight. Willing? 50/50 is my guess. The cease fire was definitely in Israel’s best interest. Let’s hope they can get their shiite together for Round Two.
I dunno man, I could show you pics of Israelis during the October War looking far worse.
Photographs can't always capturing a fighting spirit.
My rule of thumb is to trust Israel in all matters military, or at least give them the benefit of the doubt.
They haven't disappointed yet, and they've been in some far tighter squeezes.
The problem with reserve readiness isn't even the worst of it. Even active duty units were having trouble, understandably so. If I had to pick a really well trained draftee 20-year old, or a guerrila fighter with 20 years experience fighting over the same patch of levantine sh-t hole, I'd take the second. That's the problem with all Western armed forces at the end of the day when we come up against these hardcore non-nation actors in increasingly brutal wars. We're putting well-trained and well-equipped kids against men, and our kids are often being led by officers a year or two out of ROTC or a service academy with no field experience. Given the handicaps we're facing it's amazing we've done as well as we have in the ME.
Re Mr Sharf's comments:
Remember that Americans in the same "inexperienced" situation broke at the Kasserine Pass, but less than a year later were toe-to-toe with the far more experienced Waffen SS, and it was the SS that was destroyed.
The IDF troops themselves will demand more realistic training and better leadership before they re-engage Hezbollah.
Completely different situation. The problem with Western armies today is structural. Officers just log time in battlefield posts, don't stay with units long enough (exceptions do exist of course). We have bloated REMF bureaucracies that gobble up funds and do nothing productive. The smallest unit we look at is the platoon or company, when we need to be looking at building squad and sub-squad level cohesiveness.
Training can neer match the real thing. You put a well-trained teenager against hardened fighters who have been warring over the same patch of dirt for 20 years, the result isn't tough to predict.
william i responded to our pre shabbos discussion a few threads ago..
You stated: You put a well-trained teenager against hardened fighters who have been warring over the same patch of dirt for 20 years, the result isn't tough to predict.
Let's examine the result:
100 approx israeli soldiers were killed
500 approx hezbollah soldiers were killed
simplistic yes? but it does paint a slightly different story, were ops mistakes made by the IDF, sure, but I'd not write them off yet.
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Oh yes, the Wash. Post. What the G-man uses a "beep" to describe. The big question of the day: what in the world is that rather large helmet cover the IDF have on in those photos? Is that some kind of quick pull-down chem-bio hood or something? I've never seen anythig quite like it.