You Cannot Outsource Fighting A War

Marine Corps UN-1Y Huey helicopters prepare to insert Marines during a raid exercise on K-9 Village, Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., Oct. 1, 2014. The exercise is part of Weapons and Tactics Instructor 1-15, a seven-week event hosted by the Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One cadre. The Marines are assigned to 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Artur Shvartsberg

The US Can't Outsource Warfighting -- James R. Holmes, The Diplomat

Offshore powers have long tried to get continental powers to fight their wars. It’s rarely worked.

America has hung out a shingle: HELP WANTED. Offshore powers — powers beset by few if any overland threats — habitually do. But good help doesn’t come cheap, in world politics as in private industry. One hopes Washington gets this as it tries to accomplish big things while slashing the resources needed to fulfill its purposes. Simply appealing to mutual interests is not enough to marshal and sustain multinational enterprises. Deeds — and resources devoted to the common cause — speak louder than words.

Look back to look ahead. In its imperial heyday, not-yet-weary titan Great Britain was constantly on the lookout for a “continental sword” to project force onto faraway shores. Finding capable land allies would spare London the need to raise and maintain large standing armies. Prussia’s King Frederick the Great, for instance, acted as Britain’s continental sword during the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), known in these parts as the French and Indian War.

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My Comment: It may be appealing to have others fight your wars .... but I concur with this commentators assessment that it is not only costly .... but in the modern era extremely difficult to organize and implement .... especially within the framework of a coalition where you are the junior partner and/or a partner among equals.