Best Defense

Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

The future of the U.S. Army

I flew across the country the other day and caught up on a lot of reading. One of the best things I read was Andrew Krepinevich’s prepared congressional testimony on the future of the U.S. Army. He thinks we can’t afford to have the whole Army be "jack of all trades, master of none," and ...

I flew across the country the other day and caught up on a lot of reading. One of the best things I read was Andrew Krepinevich's prepared congressional testimony on the future of the U.S. Army. He thinks we can't afford to have the whole Army be "jack of all trades, master of none," and so we should have two specialized forces -- one for conventional warfare, the other for small irregular wars. But if you care about the future of the U.S. military, print it out and read it. 

I flew across the country the other day and caught up on a lot of reading. One of the best things I read was Andrew Krepinevich’s prepared congressional testimony on the future of the U.S. Army. He thinks we can’t afford to have the whole Army be "jack of all trades, master of none," and so we should have two specialized forces — one for conventional warfare, the other for small irregular wars. But if you care about the future of the U.S. military, print it out and read it. 

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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