Bragg's Doomometer

**Rick** · 06-12-2008, 07:36 PM

Folks tend to forget that the Persian Empire (that's known as Iran today) was one of the most powerful empires in the world. They still have visions of returning to that grandeur. According to 2006 numbers, they have the 8th largest army in the world with 545,000 active service troops, 350,000 reserve troops and 11,390,000 paramilitary troops for a whopping total of 12,285,000 trained and ready troops. Although the U.S. has a much larger active and reserve force we can only mobilize 2.9 million if we moved EVERYONE to Iran. And guess what? The Iranians are already there. They don't have to go anywhere.

12.2 million vs. 2.9 million. It wouldn't be saber rattling if I ruled the country with those kind of odds.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._active_troops

Now, I just have to put this in perspective:

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**Teotwawki** · 06-12-2008, 07:44 PM

Pffffffttttt......

**crashdive123** · 06-12-2008, 07:45 PM

*sniff, sniff* yuck!

**Rick** · 06-12-2008, 07:52 PM

Knock knock.

**crashdive123** · 06-12-2008, 07:55 PM

I'll bite ..... Who's there?

**Teotwawki** · 06-12-2008, 07:56 PM

That is funny!

Everybody picks on the poor wabbit - dang pesky wolves!

**Rick** · 06-12-2008, 08:06 PM

Smell mop.

**crashdive123** · 06-12-2008, 08:08 PM

Teotwawki - go ahead, it's all yours.

**Teotwawki** · 06-12-2008, 08:15 PM

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**crashdive123** · 06-12-2008, 08:17 PM

note to self - gotta get and learn how to use photoshop.

**Rick** · 06-12-2008, 08:17 PM

I gotta hand it to Beo. That was pretty funny. So's the pic!!!

**BraggSurvivor** · 06-12-2008, 09:52 PM

Originally Posted by wareagle69

personally i nominate you as the number one troll here.

WE, your a funny little plumber.....you have know idea. Go back to your bunker and behave yourself.

**Ridge Wolf** · 06-12-2008, 10:35 PM

From the Jerusalem Post last Friday: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull

**Sam Reeves** · 06-13-2008, 04:30 AM

Originally Posted by crashdive123

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say because every other Middle Eastern nation says they want to wipe them off the face of the earth. Don't know for sure, but that would be my guess.

http://ifamericansonlyknew.com

So what is your favorite thing about our little false ally Israel?

**Rick** · 06-13-2008, 07:10 AM

Well, I think you picked the wrong author to back up your position. Alison Weir has been to the Middle East once and spent a whopping 30 days there. That doesn't make her an authority on the subject in my book (one way or the other).

**bulrush** · 06-13-2008, 10:42 AM

12.2 million vs. 2.9 million. It wouldn't be saber rattling if I ruled the country with those kind of odds.

Rick, the odds of winning a military conflict are not based on numbers alone. However, I think you implied that the Iranians THINK they have more military power than they actually do simply because of numbers.

What counts is the EFFECTIVENESS of those numbers. How well trained are the troops? How well supplied are they? How much actual combat experience do they have?

Remember in WW2 when Hitler started making garrisons of old men and kids? Some of the kids were 12 years old (or at least appeared to be 12 by the Allied soldiers). They were untrained. They were simply handed a gun and uniform and told to go to a certain place and defend it. There is a big difference between an untrained 12 year old, and a very experienced, well-trained US solider. Just because a 12 year old can pull the trigger doesn't mean they can hit their target, or not break lines under pressure. It also doesn't mean they know how to clean a gun if it jams.

Also recall that in WW2 Hitler really stretched ALL his fronts. Supplies had trouble getting to Russia and more distant areas. While the German troops had ammo and food, they were tough opponents. As soon as they ran out of something (like the tank battallions were low on gas in Africa) the Allies began to beat them roundly.

Another thing to consider is that, I'm sure, many countries overstate their active troops so they appear more powerful than they are. So they include old men and boys in that number. So in fact the actual number of effective, trained troops is quite a bit lower than the stated amount.

Here's the population breakdown of Iran:
age 15-64 years: 72.3% (male 24,090,976/female 23,522,861)
Total population: 65 million

So Iran is saying they have half their males age 15-64 classified as "active military"? Sounds a little high to me.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat...k/geos/ir.html

**Rick** · 06-13-2008, 01:11 PM

Iran is about three times larger than Iraq. Here's a situation that I think pure numbers weigh heavily in their favor. What is the strongest force we could put in Iran? Pick any number but without a draft and without stripping other regions bare of support you aren't going to have 500,000.

The Chinese were pretty darned effective in Korea with just throwing bodies at us. A lot of them were armed with sticks and ladders to climb over the bodies.

You are correct that many other factors have to be considered. Our advanced munitions and aircraft would compensate for a lot. But if I were sitting on the throne in that country I don't think I'd be too quick about backing down from the U.S. I'm just saying I understand all his bravado. I don't agree with it but he does yap from a position of some power.