“A Significant Increase In The Army and Marine Corps”

by Blue Star Beth — published on March 28th, 2008

I listened in on the blogger conference call today and was glad to hear Hugh Hewitt ask about a statement that had been made about an upcoming announcement from John McCain that there will be ‘a significant increase in the Army and Marine Corps’ under his administration. I was so happy to hear that he would build our military back up that I didn’t make the connection that he didn’t mention the Navy. I guess I just made the assumption he meant the military as a whole.

Hugh Hewitt, on the other hand, did make that connection and asked what McCain’s intentions are in terms of the Navy’s involvement in that military increase. I thought the response to that question was interesting.

In the blogger conference call today, McCain Senior Advisor Steve Schmidt outlined next week’s “Service to America” tour. Senator McCain will be making speeches from McCain Field in Mississippi, Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, Annapolis, Maryland, Jacksonville and Pensacola, Florida. Each stop will underscore some aspect of the senator’s life story, as well as the McCain family’s many-generation commitment to the country’s safety.

At the Jacksonville stop, the GOP nominee will call for a significant increase in the size of the Army and Marine Corps. I asked if the Navy would be part of the call for an expanded military, and Schmidt demurred until the senator speaks next week. It seems to me that a naval power needs more than the 280 ship Navy we are headed for.

Expansion of the military is a crucial issue for the fall campaign. The Jacksonville speech will thus be a very significant milestone in Campaign 2008.

I will look forward to hearing McCain speak on this next week. With his legacy of connections with the Navy I suspect there will be a significant increase in the strength of our military … Navy included. I certainly hope so.


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2 Responses to ““A Significant Increase In The Army and Marine Corps””

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  1. Gary K UNITED STATES says:
    March 28th, 2008 at 7:17 pm

    The problem with increases in the Army is that is will require increases to the Air Force also. The USAF provides the airlift for the troops, equipment and supplies, as well as close-air support and battlefield intelligence & air superiority… Unfortunately, the USAF has been drastically cut over the last 10 years. I hope McCain realizes it goes hand-in-hand.

  2. Blue Star Beth UNITED STATES says:
    March 28th, 2008 at 8:42 pm

    Hey Gary,

    I hear ya. The way I understood the conversation this morning was that these issues will be addressed in the speech McCain. I’m personally confident that McCain has a good understanding of the interdependency between the branches of service and all of those will be addressed. I can’t speak for him of course, but that’s my understanding of it.

    I’m looking forward to his speech on this next week. I think a lot of our questions will be answered.

    Beth

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