Brookings Opportunity 08: Military Readiness

June 27, 2007— -- What is an election about? Is it about personality and leadership? Or is it about the issues that will challenge a president?

There are critical issues facing the nation -- war, security, immigration, global warming, health care, the economy, the deficit and 2008 election of 2008 will have a profound impact on the political landscape.

And so the Brookings Institution, a think-tank based in Washington, D.C., has launched Opportunity 08, a new project to provide ideas and information on a broad range of public policy topics facing America's next president.

ABC News is partnering with Opportunity 08 to bring you coverage offering depth and insight on issues key to this campaign.

We're in the middle of a high stakes game in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and as retired General and former Army Vice Chief of Staff Jack Keane commented, "Never has the country asked so much of so few for so long."

In Iraq and Afghanistan, the typical soldier or Marine has undertaken three and sometimes even four tours of duty. But only a very modest percent of the population -- about 0.3 percent -- has deployed.

The evidence of the terrible damage is everywhere -- higher suicide rates, higher attrition rates among the young officers on whom we depend so much in the field and on whom the future U.S. military will depend for senior leadership someday, and lower average scores on aptitude tests among new recruits.

So how do we interpret the data and prognosticate about the future? Can we get away with the great Rumsfeldian gamble of trying to sustain nearly 200,000 American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and surrounding areas for half a decade without significantly expanding the size of the U.S. military?

On balance, the commitment of our soldiers and Marines remains extraordinary, but will the Army and Marine Corps start to break? Will they start to lose good people at a far faster rate than they can be replaced? And can an all-volunteer military continue to maintain our nation's basic security?