1/3rd a company isnt understrength it's ineffective.
The principle is the same.
Russia, and to a lesser extent, Ukraine, are proving that drones, which are only getting deadlier and being fielded in ever increasing numbers, are causing ever increasing numbers of dead and wounded. Units that are better able to reinforce are going to be more effective than units that focus solely on fitness and beards.
We could drop all fitness and health standards so we can get 500 morbidly obese soldiers instead of just 100 unfit ones.
And that unit of 500 obese soldiers will outlast the unit of 100 unfit ones who themselves would outlast a unit of 50 super fit soldiers.
We can pretend like Russia and Ukraine don't know what they are doing, but fun fact, they are two of the most combat experienced armies in the world right now and we disregard what they are learning at our peril. I've seen the drone strike videos on Reddit, NSFW clearly. When a drone is bearing down on these guys, do you think it matters worth a damn whether they can do 100 push ups, run 15 kms, and 6 pack abs? They turn to meat. And when they need to replaced, and fast, are the Russians training these guys to be to the same standard as their VDV? No. They get someone who knows how to hold a rifle and point them to the enemy and hope they aren't turned to meat as well.
Hegseth is obviously dog whistling. The US military can't afford to hold all of it's female soldiers to male fitness standards, or everyone to Army Ranger fitness (hyperbole of course). But drones are still not an excuse to go for a Stalin-style quantity over quality mentality.
Listen, in a perfect world, fit troops>unfit troops.
In the hellscape that Russia and Ukraine are showing, with drones becoming the leading cause of death for both sides, any troop>fit troops.
If front line units in future peer to peer combat are taking 30-50 percent casualties per assault, the focus needs to be on how to replace those losses, not how fit the replacements are, otherwise you're going to start getting 30 vs 100 engagements with drones still killing those that remain.
The fact that secdef and the CINC of the USA are taking the exact opposite lesson of this when we are quickly ramping up to a period of direct conflict with Russia, who are not even pretending now that they don't view themselves at war with NATO, is highly concerning. Sure, one will learn lessons and pivot as needed, but those lessons will come at a steep cost, and if they had learned the lessons that Russia and Ukraine have been teaching everyone about the realities of what drone warfare looks like, the cost would be far cheaper.
www.dailymail.co.uk
