Defense Secretary Mattis "shocked" by poor state of U.S. combat readiness

CBS ^ | 12 June 2017 11:35pm

[blueplum]

WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Jim Mattis declared Monday that he was "shocked" upon his return to the Pentagon by the poor state of the U.S. military's readiness for combat.

He put most of the blame on Congress for its inability to approve budgets on time or repeal a law that strictly limits defense spending.

Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, Mattis said Congress has "sidelined itself from its active constitutional oversight role" by failing to deliver a steady stream of funding to pay for new weapons and other critical gear.

"It has blocked new programs, prevented service growth, stalled industry initiative and placed troops at greater risk," Mattis said as he urged

[DoughtyOne]

I remain unconvinced we will never have a need for a large ground troop invasion force again.

China has a five million man army. While the level of training for many of them is sub-par, we have no idea what types of battles our future with them might entail.

The promise has been that with less bases we could have a better prepared status, troops and equipment.

Has that played out? No. Now they want to close more bases.

It’s somewhat like stating we want a robust private sector aviation presence in our nation, then closing as many small airports around the nation as we can.

The private sector aviation situation is important, and so is an adequate number of bases.

We have shut down enough. Enough already.

Name five things we have up-sized in our military in the last 20 years.

[stanne]

If you are running a house and the accountant comes in and says get your daughter’s derelict boyfriend out of here and you’ll save grocery, amazonnprime, water, laundry and gas money and have more time to focus on kids getting through homework and on to good colleges that’s downsizing

If you don’t think the military has been supporting dysfunctional members, you’re not paying attention

[BBell]

Just like I have said that the department of education does not need more money I will say the same for the DOD. They need reform. There is still too much dead wood sucking up too much money.

How much did the DOD spend on LGBT celebrations and there are a whole lot of other things that the DOD wastes money on that have nothing to do with fighting a war. We need to get back to the mentality we had when we had a Department of War. But I don't see that coming back anytime soon.

Kill People and Break Things and nothing else.

Eisenhower warned us of the military industrial complex but when he did we were flush with cash. We no longer are.

[Jaysin]

I remember those speech! I remember feeling as if i was entering the twilight zone at that moment and wondered if I really heard what I hearing.

[BBell]

If you don’t think the military has been supporting dysfunctional members, you’re not paying attention

I agree. Another thing is that we have a whole lot of vets that need help but at the same time we have a whole lot of"vets" that are fraudulent. I have seen it and these useless POS get benefits and everything and a lot of them never even made it out of boot camp. It clogs the system, which is screwed up anyway, and it makes it hard on the vets who really need help.

[ETL]

"Apparently benign alien emissaries show mankind how to end the misery
of war, plague and famine. The Kanamits, nine-foot tall aliens, arrive on
Earth with one lofty goal: To Serve Man. They end war, they end famine.
They make the military wonder: what's the catch?"

______________________________________

__________________________________________

To Serve Man
Series: The Twilight Zone
Writer: Rod Serling, based on the story by Damon Knight
Director: Richard L. Bare

"To Serve Man" is episode 89 of the anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on March 2, 1962 on CBS. The story is based on the 1950 short story "To Serve Man", written by Damon Knight.

To Serve Man
Series: The Twilight Zone
Writer: Rod Serling, based on the story by Damon Knight
Director: Richard L. Bare

[9YearLurker]

I’ve seen nothing from Mattis on cleaning up the contract corruption at the Pentagon. More than enough money for readiness if corruption were cleaned up.

Instead he sounds like the head of the local teachers union saying there isn’t enough money for books in the school budget, and by the way, we need to jack teachers’ salaries up still further before the district can afford any books.

[AFreeBird]

How about the American People? Shouldn’t WE know?

[central_va]

Why would you not want unused facilities shuttered?

Because maybe in the future the USA might need those to fight a major world war some day? I dunno with Asians powers?

[central_va]

The fact of the matter is that we will never fight wars with hundreds of thousands of troops as we did in the World Wars again.

Stupidest post of the day. That was a really dumb one Karnac.

[buckalfa]

"Hey! They all got their transgender troops training on time! They are ready!"

Yeah, money for material, systems, and training are crucial for military readiness. So is morale. I would have expected to have started to roll back the social justice platform in the military by now. Unless I have missed some news, I hear only crickets.

[Article10]

Correct....all fruits of the 17th amendment. Till its repealed, not much will change

[Moonman62]

Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, Mattis said Congress has “sidelined itself from its active constitutional oversight role” by failing to deliver a steady stream of funding to pay for new weapons and other critical gear.

...

But they supplied critical sex change operations.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

All the military we need is a sufficient nuclear deterrent, a rudimentary missile defense system to protect against North Korea and similar threats, a navy sufficient to give us freedom of the seas and dominance of the open Atlantic and Pacific, and a first class air force.

What we DO NOT need is overseas land bases, power projection or an army beyond what is needed to dominate our home continent and environs. Of course the military industrial complex has succeeded in producing a cowering and illogical fear of non-existent threats and endless crises, so there will be no end to unneeded defense spending.

[God luvs America]

yup

[vette6387]

“Stupidest post of the day. That was a really dumb one Karnac.”

You know, it’s a opinion based on fact, and shared by many. And it’s far from stupid. One thing I have noticed about you is that you put your mouth in gear with out first engaging your brain.

[BuffaloJack]

We need more regular troops. Obama cut our military and depended on the Special Ops people to take up the slack. Then they made the training easier so that they could push through more bodies.
This is just patently wrong.
We need to use Special Ops for special situations.
Bring their training back to the levels of 30 years ago and make up the difference by growing the standard troops.
Not everybody can be elite and cutting back on training to pass more bodies diminishes the Special in Special Ops.

[central_va]

You know, it’s a opinion based on fact, and shared by many.

That prediction is crazy. There will be another world war, count on it. The ChiComs plan is to de industrialize the USA over the next century, and it is working. They think in centuries we think in quarters.

[GreyFriar]

Of course the military is combat unready. The current primary mission for the Army organization I’m affiliated with is to have 100% of our personnel receive DoD Transgendered Policy and Respect training during the next two weeks.

[SERKIT]

"Patton"

Patton: Where are your leggings?

Surprised Soldier: But, sir! It's only a quarter to 8.

Patton: From now on, you will open at 6 and no one will be admitted after 6:15.

Patton: Where are your leggings?

Surprised Soldier: Leggings? Well, hell, general, sir, I'm a cook.

Patton: You're a soldier.