Over Extended?

Professor Bainbridge has a peice about the US Military being over extended.

Interesting perspective. I'm of the opinion that they have a point. Ground troops have been put on the back burner for the use of the high tech air power. The action in the former Yugoslavia was air actions (effective, but really expensive). Somalia was ground troop action that was a catastrophic failure (ineffective, but really expensive).

High tech is good. It has made the US military the most effective in the world. It has also made for a military that has historically low levels of "collateral damage."

High tech is bad. It makes large deployments to control the ground either ineffective or possibly over extended. Mainly, money goes either to foot troops or to high tech. Doing both seems to be something militaries can never seem to do. And we all know how much (historically) the military has resisted change. From what the MSM has been spouting Rumsfeld is solely the high tech type.

A balanced military is an effective military.