From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Aug 01 2002 - 15:06:06 MDT
--- Dehede011@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 8/1/2002 1:05:09 PM Central
> Standard Time,
> talon57@well.com writes: The former Soviets use to
> make much of their hard
> currency by selling weapons, and after the Gulf War
> it was apparent that
> Soviet weapons were no match for their western
> counterparts.
>
> Brian,
> I forgot to mention the Soviet-Afghanistan
> war. I understand that one
> of Reagan's reasons for supporting the Afghanis was
> to bleed the Soviet
> economically.
Yes, however, the Soviet's weapons were not so
significantly behind us that they were not able to
gain an advantage with numerical superiority. This is
why they had 20,000 tanks in europe to our 2,000,
50,000 artillery pieces to our 10,000, etc... and why
we kept tactical nuclear weapons in europe as a last
ditch means of blunting a blitzkrieg across europe by
the Warsaw Pact.
THe Soviet's primary lack was in a significant trained
career NC0 cadre and a lack of experienced enlisted
men. Soviet draftees served for a year. US soldiers
typically serve a minimum of 3-4 years, with many
making a career of it, to gain much valuable
experience and training.
Believe me, if the Taliban had any more of our Stinger
missiles left, our pooch woulda been screwed this past
year in Afghanistan, just as the Soviets were a decade
past.
The precision weapons we have today were mere dreams
10-20 years ago when the Soviets were fighting for
Afghanistan, and they now have their own similar
weapons. They are currently launching their own form
of GPS satellite constellation for just this purpose,
to guide their own GPS guided munitions from their own
bombers, to allow their infantry to guide air and
artillery support with precision and act independently
and with initiative. Their troops now occasionally
train in our test ranges and they are developing
similar C3I capabilities.
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