Post by SolomonWPost by g***@gmail.com- The official policy of the Song Empire at the time [of Emperor Renzong] was one of pacifism and this caused the weakening of its military.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Renzong_of_Song
Genghis Khan seemed to think so and it is also mentioned as a major cause
of the Byzantine Empire lose at the Battle of Manzikert.
All skills deteriorate if they are not regularly used.
Good training can help, but nothing is as good as actual
combat to drive the skills and lessons home.
And it's especially important in the leadership. Some combat
experience among the Captains, Lieutenants, Gunny Sergeants,
and Staff Sergeants is a serious force multiplier.
For a more modern example, consider POTUS Truman at the
start of the Korean War, and the call up of reservists.
The active duty and the organized reserve were large enough,
and by all 'rights' were being paid to do this combat.
But many units had no junior combat experience.
Truman thought it was a dirty rotten unfair shame to
take people who had been drafted, or answered the call
for WWII, and had then gotten out and set about their
lives - - but he recalled large numbers back to active
service, and combat, because it would in his opinion
(as a prior officer who served in combat!!)
have been inexcusable to send these green troops into
combat without seasoned leaders.
Hence, veterans who thought they were totally out and done,
got the God damn dirty trick played on them - the big finger poke.
from
http://www.usar.army.mil/Portals/98/Documents/historycorner/Korean%20War%20Pub_Revised%20June%2012-2013.pdf
Organized Reserve served primarily as a manpower pool to bring the under
strength active Army units up to full manning through involuntary recalls as
the Department of Defense worked desperately to deploy combat power to the
theater of war as rapidly as possible.
In order to better face future conflicts of this nature, the United
States Congress
redefined the reserve components with the passage of the Armed Forces
Reserve
Act of 1952. This milestone legislation renamed the Organized Reserve as the
Army Reserve. It created the Ready Reserve liable for active duty during
wartime
or in a national emergency. In addition, it established a Standby
Reserve and
a Retired pool liable for active duty under a congressional declaration.
Most
important, Congress set a policy that future mobilizations should
call-up reserve
component units first before any levies on reserve manpower pools.
The Act of 1952 serves as the foundation upon which the Army Reserve
functions
today. The lessons learned from the Korean War still guide the way ahead as
we face the challenges of maintaining security across the globe in these
times
of uncertainty. We must also not forget those servicemen who gave their
lives.
In the Korean War, the United States suffered 33,651 battle deaths and
20,617
non-battle deaths.