A nation must think before it acts.
Abstract
Our military is in reasonably good shape today, but it is working very hard and the level of individual sacrifice among soldiers and Marines, in particular, is very high. Were it not for the distinct likelihood of a major reduction in combined deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan by 2010, we would need urgent responses to the situation now. And if those missions go less well, or less quickly, than now hoped—or if, heaven forbid, another war breaks out in the meantime—additional measures will be required.