Posted on 08/13/2020 10:03:28 AM PDT by Kaslin
Under President Barack Obama, and President Bush before him, America's admirals and generals have utterly failed to prepare us to fight adversaries such as Russia and China.
The worst kept secret in the Pentagon is that the U.S. military may well lose a war to China. In scenario after scenario, war game after war game, our military keeps losing.
Why? Because for decades, America's admirals and generals have invested trillions of taxpayer dollars in legacy military systems that made admirals and generals feel good (manned fighter aircraft, aircraft carriers) but made us increasingly vulnerable to competitors, namely China and Russia.
The U.S. Navy is right now a floating and extraordinarily expensive disaster waiting to happen. The Pentagon tied itself in knots over the firing of Captain Crozier and his leadership during the coronavirus crisis.
Imagine the outrage when the American public learns that our vaunted aircraft carriers will have to turn tail and run at any sign of a serious threat from China. Why? Because Chinese missiles are capable of sending our carriers to the bottom of the ocean, while the U.S. military has failed to keep a strategic advantage in missile or anti-missile technology.
Donald Trump campaigned against the swamp, and he was right to do so.
Nowhere has the swamp made us weaker than when it comes to the U.S. military. The swamp -- Congress, ex-congressmen who are lobbyists, defense companies and the ex-admirals and generals who now profit at defense companies -- all get rich.
America, meanwhile, loses its strategic advantage. Americans should know: The U.S. Navy might lose to the Chinese in the South China Sea. The U.S. Army could lose to Russia in Europe. America's military advantage has been extinguished by the same class of failed military leaders who failed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Trump could have, and should have, been the president to end America's misadventures and take on the swamp in Washington. Instead, he has allowed his ego and moments of self-indulgence to distract from the important mission of keeping America safe.
Trump received five deferments to avoid fighting in Vietnam. He never served one day in the military. He was in no position to disrespect people who served.
Nevertheless, his presidential campaign was notable for its blatant disrespect of John McCain's time as a POW, and his disrespect for a gold star family who spoke against his travel ban.
Once he became president, Trump called a group of admirals and generals who were briefing him at the Pentagon "dopes and babies." Early in his presidency, he was surrounded by generals who agreed to serve under him such as General John Kelly, H.R. McMaster and James Mattis. All of those men have left the Trump administration, and not one of them retains a good relationship with the president. Mattis, Trump's former secretary of defense, has criticized the president vocally. Recently, dozens of retired admirals and generals have come out as critical of the current commander in chief.
The shame of all of this is that on matters of policy, war and draining the swamp, Trump has been right, and the admirals and generals have been wrong. Yet, Trump's style, which seems to reduce every conflict to a conflict of personality, has shrunk the power of his presidency.
Perhaps, above all, Trump's leadership style runs exactly to counter the U.S. military's culture of service. In the military, leaders are taught to put their soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines first. For all his gifts and abilities, Trump is very clearly a leader who thinks of himself first and whose ego often seems to be in charge of American policy.
In this regard, as in so many others, Trump has been his own worst enemy. The American people and the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who serve this country need a commander in chief who is willing to call out the failed leadership of our military leaders. Trump could be that champion -- if only he would put someone else first.
Hey Armstrong! Your slip is showing.
Garbage!
All opinion and no facts. No thanks.
The next world war will be fought in Space. With all our vaunted aircraft carriers we are in the same situation as the battleships at Pearl Harbor, outdated technology against superior, new weapons systems.
It’s rare that I disagree with Townhall, but this article is all opinion with flawed facts. For example, using Iraq and Afghanistan - two countries that were toppled by our military within weeks - as military failures is just plain wrong. The military is a conquering force, not a police force, and not a diplomatic force. Trying to use the military outside its wheelhouse is a disaster. Point at a target and say “Destroy” and be amazed at how good our military can execute that task.
The major issue with our military is the leadership remnants from the Bush and Obama eras that employ military policy. Those remnants need to be purged just as badly and urgently as we need to purge the same remnants throughout the Federal government bureaucracies. One thing is for certain, and the sooner we accept this, the better:
We will go to a hot war with China and Russia.
I believe Trump is already preparing for this and I have faith he is installing the necessary leadership in the Pentagon to be ready for it. Will we win such a hot war? Likely if we pull together and support it. Possibly not if we remain divided. We really need to clean up our own room before we turn over someone elses.
Hmmm... I notice the lack of any United States Navy nuclear submarines in the diatribe.
This isn’t just opinion, it’s bad opinion.
This guys logic falls apart. Bush and Obami failed to prepare for Russia and China. Trump calls the military on its failure to prepare while under them so its Trumps fault to try and fix it. What? OK Armstrong, slowly back away from the keyboard...
This guy has some good observations on the military but his obvious bias and flawed beliefs on POTUS limit the effectiveness of his insights.
I disagree. Leaders care not a whit about the men and women serving. If we cared we’d never go to war. Thankfully, we fight for an objective. If our commanders worried about our boys we’d have never had a Gettysburg, D-Day or any other battle that was surely necessary. As a veteran, I believe country first. Sacrifice is needed from time to time.
“Trump received five deferments to avoid fighting in Vietnam. He never served o...”
When Armstrong said that he went off of his stated topic and onto his emotional topic.
And highly inaccurate too. Opinions based on second or third hand information. Lots of the tripe we see coming out is. Deep state disinformation campaigns are running high because they are scared.
Yes a damn liberal view of Trump. Anyone in the 60’s who was in college was classified 1S. Trump graduated when the lottery was in effect. His number was NOT picked!. How many here used that same 1S? You are posting liberal BS. I and every SF man I knew in almost from 66-75 despised Kerry, McCain, etc.
When did Morris Armstrong serve?
Seriously? Is this guy queer?
My beef with the President’s handling of the military is he has allowed rank insubordination from senior officers like the Chief of Staff of the Army and the Lafayette Park walk, he has allowed the military to venture into extreme political correctness to the point of degrading war readiness and has not fired Generals and Admirals who counter his policies. (Retired Army Officer)
You are BS. When were you in real combat?
Agree. Coed BCT. Fags and Lezzies. That ruined our military along with females in combat MOS’s.
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