LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

• Position: Letter to the Editor

OUR HURTING MILITARY

Regarding your editorial (Trap the No. 3 Wire, pwiesner, ColoradoBiz, December 1999): While I understand your excitement and the patriotism you experienced during your carrier visit, I think you are misleading your readers.

First, you are correct (that) an aircraft carrier is an incredibly complex and powerful system. It is the fist of diplomacy. Unfortunately for the U.S., once we throw that quick jab there is little to back it up. Since you visited the ship with a VIP, I'm sure you received the full fireworks show.

I spent almost six years in the military as an enlisted man and an officer candidate. When I left just a little more than two years ago, there was already a feeling of the U.S. overextending its military resources. In those two short years, this trend has increased.

Although I am a Democrat, I would have to confess that Sen. John McCain seems to have more of a grasp of this situation than anyone else. You would do yourself a favor to review some of his, thoughts on the readiness of the U.S. military.

If nothing else, the simple economics of the private employment sector and the military sector are stark enough.

* I now make almost two times what I would have had I accepted a commission and stayed in the military.

* Today's average hardship deployment-- no family -- is nine months. This is the simple result of a simple ratio: While the number of missions has increased, the number of soldiers and sailors has decreased.

* Why can I FedEx a refrigerator to London when it takes the Army three months to move a detachment of attack...