Description:
World tolerance of risk and waiting while potentially ominous situations develop is manifestly lower now than it has been in the past. As a nation contemplates the use of force in the role of first responder to a crisis, it must have in place the ability to surge on short notice. All things being equal, it is easier, cheaper, and more militarily effective to surge deployed forces than it is to deploy forces from home. However, there is an inherent tension between the desire to push more troops forward and being able to maintain a reservoir of capability to draw on in a crisis. Understanding and addressing this tension, particularly in smaller nations, is discussed here