Small Rant....Exercise overload is real!

Everyone that has spent more than 5 minutes on this blog know I have a few pet peeves that I bang on constantly.  The F-35, the vulnerability of small units, my distaste of the aviation centric Marine Corps concepts are all WELL established on these pages.

But it's becoming obvious that I have to make a little more noise about another issue that I believe is a danger to our military services.

The issue is exercise overload and from my chair it's real!

I keep an eye on the Marine Corps and do my best to keep up with a few Army units.  Most notably the 82nd, Rangers, 101st, 25th ID, and 10th Mountain (although those guys have really disappeared...are they about to have their color cased?).

Additionally I try and look across the pond to the European continent and look at what the NATO forces are up to too.

The 2nd Cav is being run into the ground.  The 173rd are making so many jumps that the whole unit will be wearing master parachutist badges soon and our NATO friends are getting worn out before a single shot is fired in anger.

I know what you're thinking.  What's bringing on this rant fest? Who pissed in my cereal and has me going ape over exercises.

News tonight (and I'm still catching up) in addition to Bold Alligator 2017 being conducted on the East coast, we have Dawn Blitz 2017 being ran on the West coast!

That's two major exercises at the same time by the Marine Corps!

I'm not sure but I believe they're both Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) led exercises to boot.

In essence we have the 1st and 2nd MEF Headquarters both running exercises at the same time, while 3rd MEF is probably on a hair trigger in case stuff goes sideways in Korea.

We're looking at a situation where all three of our highest level HQ units are deployed at the same time.  In short there is no slack in the system because of the emphasis on exercises.

My recommendation and primal scream remains the same.  Take authority away from the Combatant Commanders.  Have a desk established in the SecDef's office to handle all requests for forces with an eye toward ensuring that our guys aren't run into the ground because they're on back to back exercises after coming off deployment.

SIDE NOTE: There is a possibility that this is all happening the way it is because of preparations for a wartime effort in Korea but from my reading they are expecting to do this without committing boots on the ground...in essence a shock and awe Desert Storm style.