The US should maintain strong and ready military forces. The Cold War ended in the early 90s. The Pentagon was happy with the All Volunteer Force.
Look what they did with it.
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, it feels like the people who run the Pentagon specialize in undeclared/unwon wars.
Understandable why young people and their parents and grandparents would take a dim view on all this.
Will an older generation encourage a younger generation to do time in the US Armed Forces in the years ahead?
How does Uncle Sam plan to attract young people to sign up in the years ahead?
In the news:
Sept 20, 2023 Military Times
Three top military leaders confirmed after Senate deal
Questions For The Uniparty Press:
Currently serving four-star officers and high level DOD civilians have been associated with what wars won by the US?
Where was the unit Sergeant Major? Where were the company First Sergeants?
Sept 25, 2023 MOAA
Military Barracks Blasted Over Horrid Living Conditions, Lack of Accountability
“The GAO concluded that leaders at the Pentagon are not only failing to provide oversight — instead choosing to largely punt the issue to the branches — but they also don’t consider it a priority. The result has been bureaucratic finger-pointing, with no one office or leader willing to own the issue.”
Why TF are vacancies on the Joint Chiefs of Staff being filled with people who are part of this system?
Recruiting crisis for Uncle Sam? Elected officials and top Pentagon Generals earned it.
This story has been posted by several sources. See them here.
August 26, 2023 by Bracing Views
W.J. Astore
The Most Fundamental Problem with the U.S. Military
Life wasn’t meant to change after the big Saddam Hussein & Osama bin Laden takedowns.
Sept 25, 2023 Military Times
US military captures key Islamic State militant during helicopter raid
“The U.S. has approximately 900 troops in Syria focused on countering the remnants of the Islamic State group, which had held a wide swath of Syria until 2019.”
Away From The Barracks and the Recruiter’s Office – What Does The Federal Government Do Well?
Sept 22. 2023 Air Force Times
GAO blasts contractor-led F-35 maintenance as costly, slow
“But the F-35′s availability has lagged for years, and if a war broke out today, many fighters would be unavailable to fight. In March 2023, GAO said, the mission-capable rate for all F-35s was at 55%. That’s well below the 70% mission-capable goal the Air Force has for its F-35As, and the 75% goal for the Navy and Marine Corps’ F-35B and F-35C variants.”
Some Americans may be asking:
Did the advantage of US air power allow the undeclared wars in Iraq or Afghanistan to be prevented, won or shut down?
US jet aircraft have been able to strike targets in what wars won by the US?
Has dressing women to look like men had any positive or negative impact on recruiting?
Just the other day:
Predicting F-35 Information Suppression
Always love the comment section:
From comments:
“Sending soldiers to war based on lies and then treating them like shit when they return hurts recruitment.”
“You wanna know why people don’t enlist? Drive through the city and tell me how many signs you see that say “homeless vet, please help.” Tell me how many pharmacies stopped accepting Tricare. Tell me how often uncle Jim can’t be with the family for the 4th of July because fireworks make him freak out. And they pay you worse than a janitor! To guard a parking lot for a government that hates you! It’s not worth it!”
“I was a Marine for nearly a decade. I would never have joined if I knew what the country would turn into. The US is no longer worth defending. I moved out of the US permanently for an Asian country that has some dignity and self-respect.
Edit: BTW, I don’t believe it is the problems you’ve stated. People want to fight for things they believe in, and, like me, they’ve lost faith in the country and have no desire to join”
“I currently serve right now as a reservist. They are throwing money at new recruits, but for people who are already in, and for veterans, there is very little being done to keep us. Reenlistment bonuses are not great unless you have special forces or other high profile experience, and all veterans and currently serving know how difficult it is to get the benefits we are promised. I’ve been in for sixteen years and if it weren’t for being close to retirement pension eligibility in a few years, I would get out.”
“one of the biggest issues imo is the fact that people who get out tell their friends and family to never join, word of mouth is much more powerful than any marketing campaign”
“I was going to enlist in the army after high school. My parents, uncle and grandpa recommended me not to go in the army, yet, go into the airforce. They also said that they already fought so we won’t have to fight. They advised if I were to join the military that it should be in the purpose of defending our homeland, instead of some other crappy country that can care less about the US.”
“Growing up at the height of 9/11 and the Early War years as a kid right outside Fort Hood Army base. Patriotic fervor was in full swing. “Support The Troops” ribbons. Endless School art projects that entailed making American flags for newspaper stories. We wrote letters and sent mail to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, they would write back etc. I used to think Military Service was of the highest honor. But over the years the disturbing stories kept filtering in. Soldiers that had deployed to combat 5 times. Soldiers that got “Stop-Lossed” (Forcefully having their contract extended after trying to process out) An epidemic of suicide and nightmare disability process. The Iraq-Afghanistan Wars have truly decimated the prestige and image of the Service. The new generation has spent their entire lives seeing a generation of service men and women get brutalized by two wars and an indifferent government. I understand that on some level this has always been the case. But the “War On Terror” has been a unique beast entirely in screw-ups.”
There are more than 1,800 comments posted with the video above. I’ll stop here.
PBS NewsHour:
“Comments are turned off.”
Hey Uncle Sam- know that information suppression will kill enthusiasm related to enlisting in the US Armed Forces.
People want to live in a free and honest society.
Information Suppression – The Press is Weak
The Draft
Here at Oak Bay Starfish, we believe that a return to the draft is total political fantasy. Below, we will go into some of the reasons why, but not much is new if you’re one of the many readers who have been closely following the blog at any time since the catastrophic military failure of 911. Still wondering if anyone was fired over that.
National Guard
Thousands of men and women who signed up for the National Guard in the past 25 years did tours in places like Syria, Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.
These families have stories to tell and they’re not all positive. Will their stories support a draft?
More here:
Uniparty No Good For Confidence in US Armed Forces?
Over at the US Armed Forces recruiting office
Random Thoughts – Recruiting Crisis
Hostile Forces in Distant Lands
The country struggles with:
Possibly of interest:
Below, are some random thoughts and questions newspeople will not ask. Our questions appear in bold type.
How Do The Troops Defend The Constitution?
Not asking about the oath of enlistment. Asking about what happens after the oath has been taken.
Love to see newspeople interview elected officials and let us know how sending US Troops to Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, etc., is somehow defending the constitution.
Look for newspeople and school teachers to ask zero questions in these areas.
Photo-
Something from the last century