Leo123
Diamond Member
- Aug 26, 2017
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- #361
Wry Catcher said:
Quote: Make the case that Obama "tore apart" our military.Obama's bad relationship with the Military:
It is high time we heard from our military commanders. Our men and women in uniform are being humiliated, but the Pentagon brass sits mute. The administration's inability to “degrade and destroy ISIS,” or even to “contain” the terror plague, as President Obama so inappropriately claimed just last Friday, is an embarrassment.
While inept guidance from Obama and his shrinking circle of confidants has caused headline-worthy failures in Syria, pushback from military commanders has been silenced by a distrustful White House that’s jealous of control and willing to penalize those who stray from the Oval Office narrative. Obama’s Bad Relationship with the Military Is Hurting the Fight Against ISIS
US Military ‘In A Death Spiral’ After Obama-Era Cuts
Army missile defense has atrophied. Here’s what is happening to beef it up
Wood starkly lays out some of the shortfalls in readiness including:
The U.S. Air Force is 24 percent short of the fighters it needs. It is also short 1,000 pilots and over 3,000 maintainers. Only four of its 32 combat-coded squadrons are ready to execute all wartime missions.
The Marine Corps “is insufficiently manned, trained and equipped across the depth of the force to operate in an ever-evolving operational environment,” according to Gen. Glenn Walters, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps. Only 41 percent of the Corps’ aviation platforms are considered flyable.
At only 276 combatants, the Navy has two-thirds the ships it did near the end of the Cold War. It now has the smallest battle fleet since before World War I. Of its 18 classes of ships, only seven are currently in production. The recent spate of ship collisions and a grounding imply problems in basic ship-handling skills.
Currently, of the Army’s 31 brigade combat teams only three would be available to immediately deploy to a conflict. As recently as 2012, the Army had 45 brigade combat teams and nearly the entire Army was involved in the rotational base supporting combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
These military shortfalls are particularly troubling given the deployment of U.S. troops across the globe and engagement in multiple combat theaters simultaneously. These include thousands of troops in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, along with advisory missions in dozens of other countries.
President Donald Trump also appeared to show some frustration in a recent meeting with military leaders telling them he need options “at a much faster pace” when asked.
The massive gap in readiness and immediate capability of the military has its roots in the 2011 Budget Control Act signed by President Barack Obama. “The BCA put budget caps on discretionary spending for 10 years, ending in 2021, and established a 12-member congressional “supercommittee” to find at least $1.2 trillion in additional savings over that same 10-year window,” Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas explained in a recent WSJ op-ed.
US Military ‘In A Death Spiral’ After Obama-Era Cuts
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A PAC-3 MSE missile launches from the Medium Extended Air Defense System during a test at White Sands Missile Range. Air missile defense is getting a renewed Army focus, largely due to perceived near-peer threats from Russia and China. (John Hamilton/White Sands Missile Range Public Affairs)
As the Army looks to its near future, senior leaders see clearly that they can no longer count on constant air superiority. To meet that growing vulnerability, they’ve been growing and training up their air missile defense.
At the Association of the U.S. Army’s AMD conference today, commanders discussed efforts that are underway to use missile defense at their level in the future multi-domain operations that the Army expects to encounter where air, land, sea, cyber and space will all be contested.
Thomas Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, pointed to how the air missile defense that the Army focuses on has been practically overlooked in the recent Missile Defense Review.
“Air defense, particularly force defense … is a giant vulnerability,” Karako said. More here: Army missile defense has atrophied. Here’s what is happening to beef it up"More than half of troops surveyed in the latest Military Times/Institute for Veterans and Military Families poll said they have an unfavorable opinion of Obama and his two-terms leading the military. About 36 percent said they approve of his job as commander in chief."
"Their complaints include the president’s decision to decrease military personnel (71 percent think it should be higher), and his lack of focus on the biggest dangers facing America (64 percent say China represents a significant threat to the U.S.)
Great post! Meanwhile TDSers piss their pants ‘cause Trump tweeted.
