Okay..........they're going to get the money, but where will the bodies come from?

[ABikerSailor]

We've all heard that Trump wants to rebuild the military, and he wants to increase the size of the Navy. Well, okay, if that's what he thinks he needs to do, if he can get Congress to authorize the money, build away.

Only one problem that nobody seems to be mentioning. Staffing all those planes, tanks and ships with bodies to operate them. Currently, there is only about 1 percent of the entire population that has ever served, and recruiting is getting harder and harder because very few people want to join during a war. Saw that happen shortly after 9/11 when I was with Amarillo MEPS, and a lot of people who were thinking of joining decided not to after the war started.

And, with the current mood of this country, I don't really think that too many people are eager to join. I saw what happened to my Navy when Reagan did his increase but didn't think to increase recruiting quotas and a lot of ships were severely undermanned.

I hope Trump remembers the mistakes of the past and doesn't repeat them when he tries to build up our military.

Quick question for the board, since Trump is looking to greatly expand the military, how would you feel about a family member joining up and serving? Me? I've already done my 20 years.

Draft?

Force illegals into the military??

Maybe have it where U.S. citizen turn 18 and they must join for four year for four years of college???

Chances are there could be a draft soon , because how else will they be able to man all the equipment?

Has technology created less of a need for manpower?

When I served I was the projectile man in a 5" gun. Below me was the handling room where the powder and projectiles were stored. An elevator was loaded below and the projectile was lifted out of the 'dumb waiter' by me and placed in the breach. Before I could do that other members of the gun crew needed to make sure the breach block was in place, and the brass - holding the powder - was in place, other wise the projectile would drop out of the mount and roll around on the deck (a lose cannon, so to speak).

Including the gun captain there were six of us in the mount, and several below passing up the brass and the projectile, and still the gun wouldn't be fired by any of us, it was then in the control of fire control on the bridge. My guess is today, when GQ's is called, most of the work was done before the ship left the beach, and if all went well all that is needed is a toggle or two and a button to push.

Actually, in the 90's it was a combination of technology and the "smart ship" concept, which examined where there were overlapping watches and they got rid of the ones that were extra, and told the watches that they kept they were responsible for more stuff and had to get better quals for standing watches.

Basically, they got rid of a lot of extra work we didn't need to do. For instance, instead of having both a roving watch and a Sounding and Security watch, they combined the two and made the Sounding and Security watches responsible for the roving watch as well.