Automation Does Not Lead to Leaner Land Forces

"...The military — often with justification — sees advantage in new technology. There is also the hope that new technologies will solve today’s frictions. In other words, there are multiple factors that encourage a cognitive bias in Army leaders to believe that the challenge of recruitment can be innovated around. But when it comes to people, technology is labor-intensive. There are irreducible minimums of people to provide the assured capacity to conduct battlefield tasks. Often, technology displaces people but does not eliminate them...."