Posted on 10/14/2017 10:25:45 AM PDT by Kaslin
If you were asked to rate the readiness levels of the U.S. military, what would you say?
For this exercise, assume you have a scale with five choices: very weak, weak, marginal, strong and very strong. Think about each branch of the military. Where would it fall?
Perhaps you're thinking, "I'm not an expert, so I can't say for sure." So let me refer you to the latest report from The Heritage Foundation's Center for National Defense. The authors are, in fact, experts -- and their conclusions are sobering.
I'm referring to the 2018 Index of U.S. Military Strength. The editors take a hard, detailed look at all the facts, and using the scale mentioned above, rate the Navy and the Air Force as "marginal" and the Army and Marines as "weak."
How is this possible, you may ask? It's simple. For years now, we've been asking our military to do more with less. They've taken on more work and more missions, all while enduring budget cuts that eat into their ability modernize and equip themselves properly.
Do that long enough, and even the best military in the world will start to feel the effects. It's not a question of dedication or determination. Our soldiers are doing the best they can, and we should be proud of their professionalism. But if we don't meet them halfway with the money they need to do all the work they're being asked to do, should we be surprised when we find them running on fumes?
"The common theme across the services," the Index editors write, "is one of force degradation resulting from many years of underinvestment, poor execution of modernization programs, and the negative effects of budget sequestration (cuts in funding) on readiness and capacity."
So how does one best judge the right size, strength and capability of our armed forces? The Index editors used a formula long embraced by successive presidential administrations, Congresses, and Department of Defense staffs: the ability to handle two major wars at the same time.
This is why readiness issues rarely become apparent to the public -- until it's too late. It's like a household living paycheck to paycheck with no savings or line of credit. Everything seems okay until an emergency comes along.
And as the Index also demonstrates, such an emergency is hardly a remote possibility. The editors also assess the various threat levels to U.S. interests around the world (Asia, the Middle East, Europe) and find some troubling storm clouds on the horizon.
All of the six noted "threat actors" in the Index -- Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and terrorist groups in the Middle East and Afghanistan -- now rank high on the scale of threats to U.S. interests, with Russia coming close to being elevated to severe from its past score of high.
Russia and China are the "most worrisome," the editors note. Both are modernizing and expanding their offensive military capabilities in ways that indicate it won't be long before they could pose a more serious threat than they already do.
And I hardly need to remind everyone of North Korea's nuclear ambitions. The latest tests by Kim Jong-uns bellicose regime clearly hint at North Koreas ability to reach targets in the United States and among its allies.
In short, the world is becoming more dangerous, even as America's ability to counter that danger continues to degrade.
But it doesn't have to be this way. There's still time for Congress and the president to turn the ship before it hits an iceberg.
Yes, they have taken some positive steps recently to fund readiness more robustly. But they haven't overturned the Budget Control Act that caps defense spending. And they haven't yet shown a real commitment to funding the military at levels necessary to modernize aging equipment and make the military capable of meeting its many obligations.
President Reagan often spoke of "peace through strength." Our strength is clearly ebbing. Will peace soon follow?
This is an area that Trump has stated he will address.
Exactly
It is more like world’s fireman. These actions are necessary because the fires will spread burning down your house as well.
Do you seriously believe that had we not invaded Afghanistan everything would be hunky-dory?
I trust him too. He will make it go as far as he can IMO.
" : ^ )
And the cost of learning those essential and necessary skills was thousands of American military personnel dead. Not being ready for the next big war (or small war) is always paid for with the blood of the men (now men and women) who are already in the service. Ask someone who served at Pearl Harbor, who served in the Philippines, who served on Wake Island, etc. (oh, sorry, you can’t ask them because they are dead).
You’re very welcome.
The same song was sung prior to the first Gulf War, lots of hand wringing, worries about troop readiness, Saddam Hussein’s forces were battle hardened after a war w/ Iran, etc etc etc. Once the real shooting started, what was it, 96 hours? The Iraqis melted...So that’s not to say 8 yrs of Obama hasn’t taken its toll, but no other country can go toe to toe with the best equipped and best trained fighting force ever seen. Are there weaknesses? Certainly, but look at the enemies.
Sure. Pork barrel spending is the only thing saving the USA from conquest by Muslims. If we don’t increase the debt pork spending spending now, we will get conquered by Muslims? That’s what your saying here.
What a lame attempt to use illogical scare tactics in support of big government.
It’s like the Bush regime era all over again.
When we stay out of faraway turmoils, it forces local powers to take on the burden of maintaining stability.
Takeover? Seriously? Who? Russia? They can barely project power outside their shores, they can’t even keep their aircraft carrier operatimg. China? Sure they have numbers, but lack logistical capability to wage war outside their borders. We have much more of a threat internally from our own feckless politicians who continuously try to restrict, reduce or do away with our freedoms.
>One must recall that in 1941, our whole military apparatus was hollowed out and largely filled with men who had little or no combat experience, except for some salty old sergeants and a number of captains and majors who had seen trench warfare, but were unready for massive air and sea assaults. Somehow, a sufficiently large number of men, between 1942 and 1945, learned all the essential and necessary skills.
The officer corps we had in place before World War 2 was the group we won the war with. We winnowed out the bad ones and promoted the good ones. Obama fired everyone decent officer we had and replaced them with Marxists or PC screw ups. We’d have to winnow them all and start over.
>You are ignorant if you expect Secretary Mattis to undue the enormous damage that arrogant pos former occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania did to our military in the 8 years he occupied the Peoples house with a snap of his fingers. Get real
Has he fired the head of west point yet? They’re training communist troops there. If he hasn’t fire whoever that rat is, then he’s not doing his job.
Canada started protecting our shores two years before the US entered WWII.
Those “local powers” allowed Islamic terrorists to gather enough strength to launch 911. Saddam Hussein was the King of Terror funding and planning terror attacks all over the world.
Cancer cannot be ignored or it eats you alive.
If it was not for Ukraine and for the Republic of Georgia resisting, the Euros would have already surrendered to Russia
This article and the Heritage Foundation Index of Military Strength (http://www.heritage.org/military-strength) might be of some interest.
The Executive Summary is a worthwhile read. It concludes with this statement: “As currently postured, the U.S. military is only marginally able to meet the demands of defending Americas vital national interests.”
Is it possible that the failure of leadership at West Point re: 2LT Rapone is indicative of a failure of leadership throughout the military?
The evidence would indicate that we have an on-going and systemic failure of leadership, certainly at the top levels of our civilian and military hierarchy, who seem to be obsessed with “Political Correctness” and “Social Justice” issues and not with providing our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines with the wherewithal to kill people and break things!
It pains me to think that the Navy I served in for 28 1/2 years is rated by Heritage as “marginal,” and the overall United States military posture is rated as marginal, trending toward weak.
Congress bears a considerable responsibility for this sad state of affairs, but our former Democrat Presidents bear an even greater share of the blame.
Of course, We the People elected these Bozos! So, We the People are certainly as much to blame as the Bozos!
I pray that President Trump can begin to set the military establishment right in his 8 years as POTUS, and that we have the time and resources to do so!
I’ll close with Pogo’s famous comment: “We have met the enemy, and he is us!”
“Wed have to winnow them all and start over.”
What is wrong with starting tomorrow?
>What is wrong with starting tomorrow?
We should start tomorrow, but like the Red Army discovered when you have to replace your entire officer core it takes years to build a working one and that was during a major war where it was easy to test battlefield performance. A peacetime fix might take 10 years.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.