Modulator

Iraq Troop Count

Do you visualize the 133,000 troops in Iraq as mostly combat soldiers? Think again. According to this piece from today's New York Times the number is much lower:

Such is the arithmetic of an ultra-modern army. The support echelon is so large that out of the 133,000 American men and women in Iraq, no more than 56,000 are combat-trained troops available for security duties.....And even the finest soldiers must sleep and eat. Thus the number of troops on patrol at any one time is no more than 28,000 � to oversee frontiers terrorists are trying to cross, to patrol rural terrain including vast oil fields, to control inter-city roads, and to protect American and coalition facilities.

No wonder the troops are having problems.

Posted by Steve on November 4, 2003