Defending Europe Against a Conventional Attack

The increasing gap between the U.S. Army's capabilities and NATO commitments is discussed in terms of the Army's inability to meet its manpower mobilization needs for the conventional defense of Central Europe. Because of the problems associated with the All-Volunteer Force (AVF), other areas of military defense are affected such as equipment stockpiles and war reserves and military reinforcement plans. For the foreseeable future, the Nation's commitments should be reduced in order to reflect the level of capabilities possible under the AVF system and steady-state funding levels. The commitment to maintain a long war-sustaining capability should be replaced by a more realistic short-war policy, allowing the concentration of available resources in on-site combat power and readily available, fully manned, trained, and equipped reinforcements. Such compromising actions would accrue certain risks; yet in an era when there are inadequate personnel and funding resources to support both a short-war and a long-war capability, the continuation of certain commitments will only perpetuate the inability of the Army to perform either mission fully.