The current state of the US Armed Forces is raising sincere concern among numerous American experts. And it is not because the US military lacks arms, money, or the opportunity to “practice” during the numerous military conflicts unleashed by the US around the world or provocative “exercises” staged in close proximity to the borders of Washington’s so-called “major adversaries” — Russia and China. As noted by American experts, the US Armed Forces are the best-equipped fighting force in history. And also the most expensive: the cost of it is incomparable with others.
The Ground Forces have made significant progress in the combat readiness of their units, but they simply do not have the combat personnel and manpower to accomplish all that is required of them. The same is true for the Marine Corps, which has decided to downsize in order to free up funds to improve the combat and operational capabilities it will need in the next war, The National Interest reports.
The US national defense budget for fiscal year 2021 amounts to $740.5 billion. Advanced weapons systems and a roster of 1,282,000 troops in all branches of the military make the US Army a formidable contender for other world powers, not to mention the smaller, “regular” countries.
Nevertheless, behind the façade of “success” and “power” lies a host of problems that the US Army inherits from a deeply crisis-ridden American society. The weakest link in the US military, according to American experts, is recognized as its people. One of the major concerns has been the fitness of current recruits for military service, as nearly 75% of boys and 80% of girls in the United States are physically unfit for active duty. Because of this, personnel shortages in the US Army can soon become a chronic issue, which can lead to incapacitation of the Pentagon – even with new equipment and a more than solid military budget.
As of today, the US military’s trained reserve is about 14 million people, most of whom are older Americans who have served as long ago as 1990-2010. However, this “gold reserve” is aging and, in the event of “day X“, which can come at any moment in the foreseeable future due to the unpredictability of Washington’s policies and the strengthening of revanchist ideas based on Russophobia and Sinophobia by the White House, it can suddenly become “overdue“.
As for the youth from 17 to 24 years old, who has always been perceived as the main support in replenishing the army, today they are practically unsuitable for most important tasks. The Pentagon testifies that about 71% of male recruits and 84% of female recruits simply cannot pass military medical inspections for three main reasons: obesity, lack of completed high school education, and unpardoned criminal records. As USA Today confirms, the Army problem only highlights an underlying social process in the country, as other government services, as well as private businesses, face a similar decline in the fitness of young people.
The shortage of military personnel clearly shows that the process of degradation of the younger generation in the US today has reached a milestone. Low living standards, inadequate nutrition, poor housing, lack of access to as much as comprehensive secondary education and regular medical care mean that American boys and girls who have grown up in sometimes frankly unsuitable conditions are massively unfit for the standards of military service. In addition to LGBTQ problems, more traditional vices such as gambling, theft, alcohol and drug abuse and traffic are now thriving in the US military.
Besides, not everyone today wants to serve Uncle Sam. As a recent US study shows, military service is no longer considered a mark of honor in the United States.
As a result, attempts were made to create military units out of “substandard soldiers,” but they suffered excessive losses even during peacetime and proved completely unsuitable for combat conditions. Not to mention that the percentage of injured American soldiers in the Pentagon’s “exercises” is steadily increasing. Ten American servicemen of the 82nd division of the US Airborne Troops were taken to hospital with injuries after landing on Nurmsi airfield in Järva district of Estonia during Swift Response exercises on May 9, the Estonian newspaper Postimees reported.
As one of the main solutions to the current personnel problem in the US Army, US military strategists have decided to turn to the “capabilities” of the LGBTQ community. And now the first ever military helicopter crew of four openly gay men has been formed in the US Navy.
Following the CIA joining the “parade of tolerance,” the US Army has released a commercial that includes a lesbian couple and a procession of sexual minorities, the Daily Mail reports. This move has already caused confusion and rejection on social media in the United States and many Western countries. This commercial was part of The Calling, a campaign designed to attract recruits to the US military at least in this way.
And now, on his Twitter page, US Senator from Texas Ted Cruz has shared his fears that the American Army might be too “politically conscious” and “free of masculinity” to compete with the Russian army. The politician was so distressed by the commercials of the armed forces of both countries: the Russian one showed muscular men building their mettle in harsh environments, while the American one showed a female corporal brought up by a lesbian couple, Insider writes. Though Ted Cruz himself never served in the military, as Insider points out, he has expressed the opinion that women have no place in the military, doubly so in combat. In 2016, during his campaign for re-election to the Senate, the politician said that having women in combat positions in the military is “insane” and “beyond political correctness.“
Therefore, it is not surprising that recently the US media has been increasingly publishing expert admissions that the US Army today is not ready to compete not only with Russia or China, but is not even able to save its face in Afghanistan.
Vladimir Danilov, political observer, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
