Presidential Debate on Defense So Far, Has Lacked Substance.

• Author: Skibbie, Larry
• Position: Brief Article

I recently attended a ceremony hosted by the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Eric Shinseki, where he presented the Army Supply Excellence Awards. This is an annual competition, sponsored by NDIA, to recognize excellence and innovation in Army logistics supply operations.

It truly was inspiring to see soldiers--from privates to colonels--representing active-duty, Reserve and National Guard units, step up to receive their awards from the Chief of Staff. I should mention that NDIA has sponsored this competition and similar competitions for maintenance excellence since 1986.

However, that is nor what I want to discuss in this edition of President's Perspective.

In his remarks at the Supply Excellence ceremony, Gen. Shinseki commented that history teaches us valuable lessons. One of those lessons, regrettably, is that there is a war in our future.

That simple statement--that there is a war in our future--is not based on speculation or wild guessing. It merely is the conclusion one draws from looking at the history of our nation and the world. And that statement is the reason why the on-going presidential election debate about the defense preparedness of the United States is so important.

A Conflict Awaiting Us

Periodically, as a nation, we ask our youth to go into harm's way to defend the sovereignty of our country and to protect our national interests. The period we are entering, the early portion of the 21st century--like every other in our history--undoubtedly has a conflict awaiting us.

Based on that premise, we owe it to our youth to invest adequate resources into our national defense. That means allocating enough dollars to train and equip soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines so they can be as invincible as we can make them, if they are to do the nation's bidding. In addition, it means providing top-notch quality-of-life and educational programs, so that more young men and women will have incentives to enter military service.

For these reasons and many others, the candidates running for the White House next month owe the American people a more rigorous, comprehensive treatment of defense issues than the current piecemeal jockeying for political advantage, which is what has been witnessed...