Attrition: The Incredible Shrinking U.S. Army

January 5, 2016: The U.S. Army has had to make some bold moves to comply with a 2012 order (from Congress) to cut its strength 21 percent (120,000 troops) by 2018. At that point the army will have 450,000 personnel. While the army tried to avoid cutting combat units excessively, 13 combat brigades were disbanded and some were reduced to battalion sized task forces or just headquarters (to be revived as a brigade in wartime using reservists). Some brigades were converted from Stryker units to infantry and some lost one of their three combat battalions. Other brigades gained a battalion and some additional support troops and equipment. The point of it all was to make the most of a bad situation and reorganize so that each unit was best (or better) suited to its future assignments. Most combat brigades are organized and train for eventual deployment in a certain region. They might, as often happens, be sent elsewhere. But in the meantime they have a focus for their organization and training.

Russia overtaking US in cyber-warfare capabilities

If you’ve been following Global Geopolitics for a while, you already knew this day was coming. The next stage after an advantage is gained is a full-force attack shutting down everything in the United States.This doesn’t even include China, their capabilities, the damage they have already done and the damage they are going to do. You can follow these developments under the cyberwarfare category.

 

Reports coming out of Ukraine suggest that the US is falling behind Russia in terms of cyber-warfare capabilities, while the importance of such capabilities is increasing.

Ronald Pontius, deputy to the US Army Cyber Command’s commanding general was reported in National Defense as saying earlier this month:  “On one hand we can feel very positive of our pace of progress that we’re making, but when you put that in context of what the threat is and the pace of change of the threat and the significance of the threat, you can’t but come to the conclusion that we’re not making progress at the pace the threat demands.”

China buys six S-400 missile battalions from Russia: report

China has purchased six battalions of Russian-built S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to enhance its air defense capability against the United States and its allies in the Western Pacific, reports the Washington-based Strategy Page.