Having President Joe Biden as commander in chief is scary enough as it is, but a bombshell assessment from The Heritage Foundation should send chills down the spine of every American.
Heritage has released an annual report on U.S. military strength for nine years. The 2023 version, released this week, is concerning, to say the least.
For the first time, Heritage has rated the U.S. military as “weak,” according to the Washington Examiner, meaning that the organization doesn’t believe the U.S. is prepared to respond to major events like it once could have.
When the military stops focusing on the mission, they leave American warriors in a challenging position.
Heritage ranked the current state of our military as WEAK in the 2023 Index of U.S. Military Strength.
Read why at: https://t.co/zA3cARFg5w pic.twitter.com/a2i6t2dAqY
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) October 18, 2022
The authors of the eyebrow-raising report pulled exactly zero punches, outlining the core issues that resulted in the embarrassing downgrade.
“As currently postured, the U.S. military is at growing risk of not being able to meet the demands of defending America’s vital national interests. It is rated as weak relative to the force needed to defend national interests on a global stage against actual challenges in the world as it is rather than as we wish it were,” they said.
That’s especially concerning given the growing list of threats faced by the United States and the West, including Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and a likely resurgence of Middle East-based terrorism as a result of the power vacuum created by Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal last year.
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The Heritage Foundation’s report added, “This is the logical consequence of years of sustained use, underfunding, poorly defined priorities, wildly shifting security policies, exceedingly poor discipline in program execution, and a profound lack of seriousness across the national security establishment even as threats to U.S. interests have surged.”
“No matter how much America desires that the world be a simpler, less threatening place that is more inclined to beneficial economic interactions than violence-laden friction, the patterns of history show that competing powers consistently emerge and that the U.S. must be able to defend its interests in more than one region at a time.”
The alarming report also graded the six individual branches of the U.S. military. Only the Marine Corps was rated “strong,” while the other branches all fell into the “marginal,” “weak” or “very weak” categories.
Heritage’s 2023 Index of U.S. Military Strength ranked the military as “weak”, see how each branch stacks up:
? Army: Marginal
⚓ Navy: Weak
?️ Marine Corps: Strong
✈️ Air Force: Very Weak
? Space Force: Weak
☢️ Nuclear Capabilities: StrongRead more: https://t.co/zA3cARWj7w
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) October 18, 2022
It should be noted that these grades do not reflect the intent of the brave men and women who make up the ranks of the U.S. military. Those fine folks do their jobs with honor and courage, and they deserve all the respect in the world.
One of the core issues plaguing the U.S. military is recruitment, which has fallen to historically low levels.
“The [Defense] Department anticipates we will collectively miss our recruiting mission despite accessing more than 170,000 remarkable young men and women,” said Stephanie Miller, deputy assistant secretary of defense for military personnel policy, according to Bloomberg Government. “This constitutes an unprecedented mission gap and is reason for concern.”
While Deseret News noted that the department blames lower recruitment on fewer young people meeting physical standards, as well as the pandemic for decreasing the number of recruitment drives in high schools and colleges, some believe today’s military is too “woke,” alienating the young conservative candidates who typically make up the military’s core recruitment demographic.
Sadly, it could be several years before the U.S. military returns to the level of strength and readiness it had when former President Donald Trump was in charge, and that’s only if a Republican wins the White House in 2024.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.