Our military should be more important to progressives than it is to conservatives.

Why? Our military is their primary guarantee they can rail against America without fear of retribution. We have enemies (think: China) that want us defanged so that American leadership around the world becomes nothing more than a footnote in history. An America without a strong military to guarantee our place in the world and, at the same time, the rights of snowflakes. It is they who would become the first to be stood up against the wall and shot without the protections our military confers.

Thank a soldier every time you meet one, as I do.

We’ve become quite illiterate in recent years.

Since we stopped teaching civics, real American history, and respect for God, country, and family.

Many progressives have developed a snowflake mentality that believes it’s not the world that is a threat to them, but America itself.  This educational failure has given rise to many inexplicable thought processes that range from tearing historic statues down to the number of people who think capitalism kills more people than communism. A recent Annenberg Civics Knowledge Survey found that less than half of U.S. adults can name the three branches of government.

The following facts are important to understand:

There are about 2.4 million active and reserve members of the U.S. armed forces. Add about another 450,000 in various national guards, and total, we have about 2,850,000 uniformed members of the military. Our land warfare forces are numerically not up to the task of taking and holding a lot of real estate any longer.  Our Army is committed to an entirely different Order of Battle than it was 40 years ago, due to the technical nature of how we fight conflicts today.

From reader Amit M, came the following information:

“As an example, in an armored battalion of 35 tanks and a support mobile company, the number of fighters is about 150, while the total body count is around 400-500. The 'extras' are not redundant in any sense. They include logistics, communications, liaison, medics, field maintenance, ammunition, and sundry stuff.  So, when you look at the net ratio between actual fighting soldiers and the rest of the army, it spikes between 7:1 to 12:1.

There is less than 80,000 MOS-coded active-duty infantry within both the Marines and Army today. U.S. Marine Corps have 23,376 infantry in 24 Marine infantry battalions, and in the Army, there are 54,983 infantry in 79 Army infantry battalions (of all six types).”

During Operation Desert Storm, we amassed over 425,000 total soldiers from both our active duty and reserves, but actual combat coded (tip of the spear) personnel probably amounted to fewer than 100,000 actual warfighters. It is highly concerning to understand the reality that we would be unable to duplicate those numbers today.

To validate the importance of actual soldiers able to fight, we only have to look at Russia, currently losing a war with a numerically inferior enemy on their border. General Mark Milley stated on November 10 that ‘100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded’ so far in the Ukraine war. Ostensibly, Russia commenced hostilities with 900,000 active military plus 2 million in reserve. Yet, Russia has run out of front-line soldiers, armor, and precision-guided weapons at an alarming rate.

Reports are that Russia may run out of modern weapons before the end of the year. Russia is scrambling to purchase weapons from all over the world and resorting to the use of foreign soldiers under contract plus irregulars, also known as mercenaries. They also started a wildly unpopular program of conscription to field 300,000 new soldiers immediately.   

A year ago, U.S. intelligence believed Ukraine would be overrun in less than two weeks. Because of that, the U.S. was reluctant to supply deadly or advanced weapons for fear they would wind up in the hands of Russia. It is now obvious that our Intelligence Assessment was flat wrong in the run-up to the start of the war.  It is only by the grace of God, that Russian ineptitude in Combined Arms warfare, and not American intervention before the commencement of hostilities, that the time necessary to mount an effective defense was achieved. To many professionals, it appeared as if it was dumb luck that Ukraine made it past those first few days.

Why is all this important to all of us?

U.S. leadership has a history of failing to believe enemies telegraphing, or in this case, actually saying, what they mean.   

“People’s Republic of China Pres. Xi Jinping announced in October 2018 that he had begun a “new 30 Years War” with the U.S.” I reported this last year in my book “Unconventional War.”  Why do we ignore his pronouncements, then and now?

A revealing recent statement by Admiral Charles Richardson, United States Strategic Command (Stratcom), warned that “The war in Ukraine isn't the largest conflict that the U.S. will see; we must be prepared for a global conflict involving China. This Ukraine crisis that we're in right now, this is just the warm-up," Richardson recently stated at the Naval Submarine League’s 2022 Annual Symposium. "The big one is coming.”  Ignore what he says and the next war will find us unprepared.

There are three huge takeaways we can only touch on here:

1. The state of American forces, the size of our Army and Navy, gaps in our command, control, and communications, proliferation of asymmetric weapons and tactics all coupled with America’s absolute fear of blood will be used against us.
2. A general lack of patriotism and a belief in isolationism, especially by our youth, is now firmly embedded throughout our country. An ascendant China is inevitable and is preparing the ground for war and the defeat of the West. China seems so often to be something they are not; free, happy, and fair. The media and government only rarely sound the alarm over the Uighurs, Hong Kong, or Taiwan. Few Americans have the kind of memory that can equate Xi with Dictators the likes of Hitler, Putin, or Mao. Nevertheless, that’s who he is.
3. We are no longer as strong in mind, body, and spirit, or in possession of strong core beliefs. Read this fact and think about it: Only 23% of men and women who apply to join the military meet the standards to enlist. 77% are rejected because of health reasons, drug use, criminality, or mental defect. This is America today. And these were the civilians who wanted to join! Because of these weaknesses, we no longer meet our recruiting goals.

Wake up America!  Not ‘taking care of business for more than a generation has gotten us to where we are today. There is only the temporary fantasy of what we would like things to be, rather than the reality of what is true. Evil, will eventually find us. Some know this and are preparing for it. Too many of us have our blinders on.

It’s not too late to face reality and come together as a unified whole. First, we must come together against common threats. Second, we must renounce Wokeism and root out everyone who pushes that agenda. Our beloved country will not survive otherwise.

God Bless America!  

Allan J. Feifer is an author, businessman, and thinker. Read more about Allan, his background and his ideas to create a better tomorrow at www.1plus1equals2.com

Image: Pixabay / Pixabay license