HAMMER: As UN forces marched north, there was evidence of the Chinese joining the conflict. Despite the evidence, General MacArthur and his staff believed “the Chinese would not dare intervene” They assessed that they lacked the Military capability to bring significant forces into the conflict and even if that was possible the US air superiority would make quick work of them. What do you think we are “wishing away”? What capability or piece of equipment are we putting too much reliance on?

Right now I think we are wishing away the CBRN threat. It has been a very long time since US forces have truly faced the possibility of a CBRN attack and therefore, the training and equipment haven’t caught up with our current needs. We are making strides with our CBRN awareness and our classes on what to look for, basic decontamination and how to react in certain scenarios, however, we are still greatly lacking on the go to war equipment front. Soldiers are supposed to have two sets of go to war JSLists, we do not, many are missing gloves, some are even now being sent over without masks.

I think that currently even though we are a mechanized unit, we place too much reliance on our vehicles. History has shown us that at the end of the day, especially with our conflicts in Asia, we need more boots on the ground. Threats such as a WMSL site cannot be dealt with properly from a tank or Bradley. Also especially as one goes further north, it becomes more and more difficult to successfully navigate and operate on the terrain the way we need to in a mechanized configuration, the terrain often simply does not allow it.