Description
Heritage Foundation - For the first time ever, the U.S. military was rated "weak", according to a comprehensive annual report on military strength. Thanks, Joe Biden.
The 2023 Index of Military Strength is authorized by the Heritage Foundation and is a report card for the military's performance over the previous year. It scores based:
U.S. military's power
threats to U.S. vital national interests
operating environment
Weak: This is the first "weak" rating the U.S. military has received in the nine-year history of the report. The scale ranges from "very weak, weak, marginal, strong, very strong."
The report warns that the U.S. is "at growing risk of not being able to meet the demands of defending America’s vital national interests.”
In the previous year, the military received a 'marginal' score.
Cause for the 'weak' rating: The report notes that the military is facing a full-blown recruitment crisis and two successive years where the Biden administration submitted defense budgets that don't keep up with the rate of inflation.
Adding to the strain are rising threats from China and Russia, in addition to Iran, North Korea, and others.
Some specific examples of military erosion cited in the report:
U.S. Navy: From 2005 to 2020, the U.S. fleet grew from 291 to 296 warships. Meanwhile, China's navy grew from 216 to 360.
U.S. Air Force: In the 1980s an Air Force pilot would fly over 300 hours per year. Today the average pilot flies fewer than 120 hours per year. That translates to pilots with significantly less training.
Not an indictment on service members: Former U.S. Marine Dakota Wood, who is senior editor on the report, told the Daily Wire:
"[I]t's not an indictment of the quality of the people. We have fantastic people working in the military services... but they're using really old equipment, the military continues to shrink, and we just don't have the readiness."
The cause of all this is demonrats and those who voted for them.
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