Decades from now, historians and academics will analyze our current US military. Likely, the analysis will not be kind. Facts:
1. The US has the largest military budget of any country in the world. Currently, the US spends over $831B on defense. This is how this financial outlay compares to other countries in the world as of 2024:
US $831 Billion
China $227 Billion
Russia $109 Billion
India $74 Billion
Saudi Arabia $71 Billion
United Kingdom $62 Billion
Germany $55 Billion
Japan $53 Billion
Australia $52 Billion
France $49 Billion1
2. The US enjoys the most technologically advanced military in the world. Systems like the F-35 fighter, Ford Class aircraft carrier, UAVs, and cyberwarfare equipment have no equal currently in the world.
Historians of the future will then ask the obvious question – “Why can’t the US of the early 2000s win long wars?” Many variables need to be considered when explaining success or victory on the battlefield. Technology, quantities of equipment/vehicles, numbers of troops, training of troops, leadership, geography, and weather are among the factors involved. Even luck/misfortune is a variable when the ‘fog of war’ is considered. Wars that last years require immense resources. Long wars also usually exclude luck as an isolated variable because a single ‘lucky’ attack outcome is unlikely to substantially change the outcome of a long, larger war. The obvious conclusion is that the military leadership failed.
Generals neither start wars nor resource them. These actions belong to politicians and elected civilian officials. However, once the decision to go to war is made, the outcome in the “sandbox” that is the battlefield is dependent on the military leadership in charge of the troops, resources, tactics, and strategy employed.
Our military looks pretty in videos with its modern equipment and sleek aircraft, ships, and vehicles. Our troops look crisp and smart in their uniforms. US generals brief often their optimistic appraisals they do of the military to describe its state of readiness. This is no different than any other field of endeavor – sports, business, etc. Sports teams can have beautiful stadiums and muscular athletes in smart uniforms, but still have losing records. Businesses can have gorgeous, modern buildings and very stylistic logos but still lose money.
The critical and tragic difference is that in almost all other professions, failure results in analysis of leadership and likely turnover of leaders that fail to perform to satisfaction. In 2023, 8 of the 32 teams in the NFL fired their head coaches for failing to perform. In the American corporate world, 2024 saw the most CEOs ousted since analyst firm Challenger, Gray, and Christmas began tracking the date in 2002 – over 1,800!2
Hellbound and Down 