This de-balling the US is THE PLAN, man, it's been going on for a few decades now, slowly but surely, two steps forward, one back, but always over time forward. the NWO plan is to replace the us with a global government, they can't do that until the us military is totally filled with UN order takers who support and work for the UN, or some such other type org.
These seemingly "stupid" orders that make no sense to be unarmed during critical times is part of the deal to gradually weaken the us forces until one day the global coup is accomplished by stealth. it's WELL over half way there, now, too, IMO. Slow, plodding, don't raise too many alarm bells. This isn't idiocy on the global goons part, it's for-real traitors or global citizens of the world with no patriotism except to themselves and money and power, in very, very high international positions. some are public figures, some are not. "They" want complete and total order followers to the point of absurdity, well and beyond military effectiveness and cohesion. The politicians are puppets to these guys and cartels. They give the orders. Nothing is really an accident. It won't happen one day overnight, they don't want any military revolt in the US, it will happen as you can see it happening right now. A stupid order here, go invade some stupid country over there, play political correctness, promote the moron un-thinkers, develop a herd of mediocrity as SOP, don't let the troops really train, get them spread out all over the planet acting as mercenaries more or less - differnt "things" that apparently serve no useful self defense reason, but are practical if you want to rule the world. Mass illegal immigration, no borders, terrorists allowed to roam free-this is an ACCIDENT? On and on, step by step by step. It's being done on purpose. They cannot have just one single soverign superpower and still pull this off, they need to reduce the bigger countries to subservient states with the lofty goal of one world government for peace and security and the UN way. Look around, see what has happened over the past few decades.
Hackworth is a good guy, but I think he stops looking exactly at the level of personal mass uncomfortableness, that's where reality stops. All humans do that really, this is not per se a bad thing, it's quite the normal human thing, everyone stops at the precise level that they cannot get past, the sticking point where it goes from "agree-comfortable", to "this makes me really uncomfortable so I won't look at it so it doesn't exist so it's not there and pass the tinfoil let's laugh at it".
People just honestly do NOT want to see that the US is being sold down the river on hundreds of fronts on purpose, in a lot of ways, and by a lot of people and orgs.