With the poorly executed withdraw from Afghanistan, recent vaccine mandates (now rescinded), political climate, Ukraine turmoil, rising threats from China, inception of a new branch; the Space Force, and a struggling recruiting/retention issue, what’s your opinion of how the military is right now and what changes should be implemented?
28 comments
I am anti-military.
It still doesn’t really have a rival.
Defensive campaigns, of the US or of an Ally, are effectively unloseable. If nukes are used everyone loses.
We don’t even have to be boots on the grounds to help Ukraine hold Russia to a standstill.
This so broad a topic that all it invites is pithy one-liners.
The US Military, with all its many flaws, is a net positive in the global world.
The US Navy *alone* has done more for global commerce and peaceful relations worldwide than any organization in history.
I would rather our military budget go towards outfitting turtles in their own unique clothes and hats, so each time you see a turtle you’ll be able to know if it’s the same one you saw the other day
The military is not the problem, the entire industry surrounding it is. The defense budget is astronomical but the military itself is underfunded, because all of that money goes to billion dollar companies with absurdly lucrative contracts.
The military has been doing just fine. We still have the most powerful and adaptable military in the world.
Afghanistan was a debacle from start to finish but I can’t fault Biden for just pulling the plug. There was no upside to staying. I wish we could have done more, built a democracy, full Marshall Plan type of thing but that just wasn’t an option. The Afghanis have made their bed and now they can lie in it. Same with the Iraqis, although the fact that we haven’t heard barely anything from that country in a long time suggests to me they are doing fine, not great, but not slipping in to chaos.
We have asked a lot from our military in the last couple decades well beyond the normal scope of what we consider “military operations” but they have done admirably and I see no reason to doubt they will continue to do the job and deal with any issues they face.
>With the poorly executed withdraw from Afghanistan
That was 100% a political fuck-up for which I will never forgive Joe Biden or Mark Milley; the former for ordering the abandonment of Bagram, the latter for not throwing down his stars and refusing when the order was given. It was so galactically stupid that I naively assumed they knew something I didn’t – they didn’t, they were just dumb cowards.
>and a struggling recruiting/retention issue,
I know a lot of people don’t understand this, but guys join the military wanting to go to war. If there’s no war to go to, you’re going to have problems recruiting a war-ready force. It’s the nature of the beast. If you’re in peacetime meeting your recruiting goals, it’s probably because you shrank your force to match your recruiting numbers and what you have isn’t really war-ready.
I do find it pretty hilarious that the Marine Corps relaxed its tattoo policy just in time for the GWOT to end. So fucking dumb.
>what changes should be implemented?
Make it slightly smaller and more professional. End any “up or out” provisions; if someone wants to spend 12 years as an E-4, let them. Try to recruit slightly older with an emphasis on building a long-term career instead of having a transient cast of 18-20 year olds. Invest more in training for operational units.
>poorly executed withdraw from Afghanistan
I’m just glad we got out.
>recent vaccine mandates
Pretty sure the military has required vaccines for decades. This one shouldn’t be any different.
>political climate
?
>Ukraine turmoil
Our supplies are helping to destroy Russia’s military without us lifting a finger. Sounds like a win.
>rising threats from China
It is what it is.
>inception of a new branch; the Space Force
Still seems like a joke.
>struggling recruiting/retention issue
I don’t blame them. I would never join the military.
Never been a fan of the military, even though both grandfathers, an uncle, and a cousin were/are in the military.
The US is still by far the most powerful military in the world despite any challenges that may be going on. It be a suicide mission for any country to attack the US (even without NATO assistance) and that includes China. The way wars will be fought in the future is through technology, not as much physical combat. Cyber warfare and long range weapons are where the “market” is heading.
I really haven’t thought much about them for a while. I’m glad we aren’t as involved in hostility as we have been.
I’ve had family serving for most of my life. In my youth, I wanted to go into signals intelligence with the USAF or NAVY, but was disillusioned by the deals they offered me with the invitations to the academies. I never did serve.
I’ve been in touch with, or been waiting to hear from people on the ground in every decade from the 1960s until this one.
The military had little to no influence on the withdrawal from Afghanistan. They didn’t go far enough with the vaccine mandates.
I’m told by many that the issue with retention is cuts to re-enlistment bonuses and making promotions / retirements more difficult.
Space Force is a good thing. We need more R&D, and the US military has always been a great source of development. Adding another service means there is less internal incentive to throw away otherwise great projects. Sure, the agencies still compete with each other, but at least they’ll actually get some more requests to see daylight.
Pulling out of Afghanistan was the right call. They already have 200 other vaccine mandates, one more was nothing. Political divisions matter very little to its members. We’re handing Ukraine pretty well.
In terms of recruitment and retention, up the benefits. Who wants to join the military when you see and hear about homeless veterans?
I’m not a particularly patriotic person, but our military is not even on the list of my worries. We’re the world’s superpower and will be for a while.
>recent vaccine mandates (now rescinded)
The US Military has ***mandated vaccines for fucking decades***, often times without giving personnel an option or even any knowledge of what they were receiving: my uncles that served in the 80s told me stories of “the gauntlet”, where you would walk down a line of doctors who each injected you with a vaccine.
The mandated Covid vaccine was a shitshow largely because Conservatives threw a poopy-pants temper-tantrum over it, that largely because “their side” was against the jab because “tHe SoCiAlIsT lEfT” was for the jab.
I’m fine with our military. It’s the puppeteers and profiteers utilizing the most powerful military in the world which is ours that concerns me.
>a struggling recruiting/retention issue
Retention issue? As in, people not staying with the military as a career That’s never been the norm
I love our military we are unfuckwithable. Not just the men and women who are enlisted and officers, but the technology we possess makes me feel safe as an American. I do not, however, support the death of innocent civilians around the globe at the hands of poor leadership.
Space Force should be forced to apologize for that cringe anthem they made and sang and forced to pay everyone who had to here it damages for pain and suffering caused by that absolute abomination. Also the space force uniforms need to be made from those shiny space blankets or black so they can blend in with the darkness of space and their buttons should mini planets or space vehicles and all their guns need to be chrome and they need those blinking lights and plasma tubes that don’t do anything stuck on all their equipment and work stations and their band should be just someone with a theremin making those old timey 50’s space movie sounds anthem should be absolute silence because in space no one can hear you sing.
Any withdrawal at all was a good thing from Afghanistan. Literally no upside to staying.
The United State Military is the greatest in the world and any nation that wants to challenge that will have a bad time.
>, recent vaccine mandates (now rescinded),
Wait, is that something people in the military were actually upset about? I come from a big military family and every single one of them got lined up and stabbed with a wide range of needles during their time in army/navy/national guards. None of them had any problems with the vaccine mandates as they all had to follow vaccine requirements. Even my non-military grandma, who grew up in a anti-vax 1950s household, had to get a crap load of vaccines before they let her anywhere near a military base in the 60s.
My Vietnam war vet family members make jokes about not knowing what got put inside of them before getting shipped off.
Pathetic. We lost a 20 year war to goat herders.
Lots of people missing the point with Afghanistan. I think there’s pretty much near universal agreement that it was a quagmire, but the criticism is the manner in which it was left, not the act of leaving itself.
Nice try Vlad, get all us internet expert to spill all the secrets
They need to get rid of woke generals like Mark Milley. How can we have the most effective fighting force in the world when recruits at basic training are spending more time “checking their privilege” and listing pronouns instead of doing pushups and learning how to assemble a rifle? When our generals care more about deterring threats instead of “white rage”, then I will have more confidence in the armed forces.
> With the poorly executed withdraw from Afghanistan,
Can’t blame the military for political decisions, and attempts to use infantry to build a nation.
> recent vaccine mandates (now rescinded),
Not recent. And vaccine mandates aren’t “rescinded.” You get a shit ton of shots if you join the military, and have for many many years.
> political climate,
Nothing to do directly with the US military?
> Ukraine turmoil,
US military isn’t in Ukraine, so again, dunno why this is in a question about how I feel about the US military. I think politicians should send a lot more equipment, and they should have done it at the start of the war. I am am sure whenever orders come down to ship something to Ukraine, the military executes those orders well.
> rising threats from China,
Meh. The Navy certainly made some mis steps over the last 20 years. But we can probably prevent China from conquering Taiwan if they try it in the forseeable future, or at least make it stupidly expensive. Ultimately, we kind of need to accept that China is a huge country with a large economy, so we can’t be guaranteed local overmatch in the long term.
> inception of a new branch; the Space Force,
That was fucking stupid. But again, ultimately a political decision, not anything the military was pushing for.
> and a struggling recruiting/retention issue, what’s your opinion of how the military is right now and what changes should be implemented?
Get rid of “up or out” strategies. We need a bunch of mid-career technical experts to stay where they are with their expertise. Get rid of limited slots in a grade. Make it easier to recruit a cvilian technical expert to a higher rank, the way that doctors tend to be a Commander on their first day in the military. Navy needs to stop the way shifts work where nobody can ever get enough sleep to safely operate dangerous equipment.
Seriously deal with some of the toxic macho bullshit that results in soldiers never seeing a shrink, or assaults going unreported.
And un-fuck the VA healthcare for vets.
The most impressive thing about the American military is its education and training.
Ever since World War II, the US military has been the most diverse fighting force on the planet. Everyone who joins learns their job and learns how to lead. No other military force invests so much into its people. It’s good for combat effectiveness, but also good for America when they become veterans.
Simply put, there is no fighting force like the American military.
No other military has anywhere close to the expeditionary capability or force projection capacity.
No other ground combat force has the lethality or maneuverability as rotating brigade combat teams.
The combat supremacy of the Air Force is nearly as impressive as its airlift capacity.
The maritime supremacy of the Navy benefits all seafaring nations.
All of this is executed by people from every community in America, who learn to do tough jobs with people they never met and to do 100%, 100% of the time.
Even without discussing combat capability, it’s an incredibly interesting and highly successful organization. But it is also peerless, militarily.
> poorly executed withdrawal from Afghanistan
We stayed there too long and should have left, but the chaotic-mess of it is mostly on both the Trump and Biden administrations, not the military itself.
> recent vaccine mandates
They should never have been rescinded. You agree to a bunch of other vaccines when you join.
> political climate
There are extremism issues in the military, but it’s not as big of a problem as a lot of left-leaning media makes it out to be. It is an issue that should be monitored and addressed though.
> Ukraine turmoil
How is this the US Military’s problem. They asked for weapons and we gave them some. In case you didn’t know, approving and coordinating that exchange is the State Department’s responsibility, not the military’s.
> rising threats from China
The military, especially the navy is putting a lot of effort into countering China. They’re doing pretty well in this area.
> the Space Force
Memes aside, this was inevitable. We had a space command for a long time that just kept getting bigger and bigger. Now they are their own branch. It’s just an administrative change, that’s all.
> struggling recruiting/retention issue
This is the biggest issue the military faces today. In a strong economy with low unemployment, that’s when the military struggles the most. Couple that with internal problems like toxic chains of command, and you get the military’s current situation. The military cannot the economy, but they can change themselves, and they need to.
Overall the US Military is still doing very well. The largest organization on earth is always going to have problems, and always has. But at the same there a lot of good accomplishments happening.
Wow, this question doesn’t sound loaded at all @eyeroll@
Its suffering the same problem that a lot of traditional conservative leaning institutions are facing: they didn’t grant their unconditional, undying loyalty to Emperor trump, so their biggest ally (stupid white rednecks) stabbed them in the back.
The military needs to be cut by a lot, instead of up recruitment, lets up automation.
I have no issue with space force. I think it would be an interesting idea for more industries to have a uniformed service. Like the NOAA Corps or PHS Corps. Keep the proud Americans tradition of military discipline and service, and redirect it to more noble causes than imperial dominance.