General Robert Scales On The Steep Price Paid By America’s Infantry
General Robert Scales On The Steep Price Paid By America’s Infantry by James Clark, Task and Purpose
Since World War II the majority of American combat deaths have come from the infantry. This band of brothers, and now sisters, makes up a small minority of the military, but does the bulk of our fighting and dying.
These are our nation’s warriors. Their job is one that requires them to leave the wire every day with the intention of finding, closing with, and killing the enemy. They do battle with their foes close in and at the small unit level. These engagements should be one-sided fights, with the odds weighted in favor of American infantrymen and special operators. Tragically, this is not the case.
In his upcoming book “Scales On War: The Future Of America’s Military At Risk,” retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert H. Scales Jr. posits that had ground combat troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan been better armed, equipped, and supported, the extraordinary feats they accomplished in battle would not have been required, and the losses suffered might have been substantially less…
