Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	Is it all Lies?
Date:	8/22/2021 5:29:51 PM

You know, all of my adult life I have been hearing that we are the greatest military in the world.  We have the best and most expensive weaponry, great discipline, an effective fighting machine. We have nuclear weapons that we can anilliate our enemies.  I spent 32 years working for the DoD, I've known a lot of military members over the years.  Good people, smart people.  Ive been around the Generals. 

I have believed that the politicians tie the hands of our military by rules of engagement that don't really allow them to fight and win.  If we are so great, why couldn't we have stopped or slowed down the Taliban as they went about capturing the provinical capitals?  We are seeing the the plans of the politicians are weak and useless, but they are supposed to take advice from their military advisors.  Have they turned into very effective "yes men"?  It would seem to me that they should have pointed out the error of pulling out the troops before we got the civilians out.  Now we seem mired at the airport and according to Biden "we're expanding the perimeter".  

But when I let my mind wander, I wonder "suppose our greatness is really just a big lie"?  Suppose they have know this for years and just never told us?  We have already found out that there were lies about the size of the Afghan military - up to half the force were ghost soldiers and they knew it.  They knew abou the corruption, but we continued to poor billions of dollars in.  

So what if we have been lied to about the status of our military readiness?  Would we know?

Any thoughts?

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	Is it all Lies?
Date:	8/22/2021 6:04:33 PM

The US concept of civilian control of the military has been more closely adhered to than any country in history. In my heart, bolstered by having worked at some pretty high levels within the Air Force and OJCS, i believe that a significant amount of advice from the Joint Chiefs and SecDef has been ignored by the current White House (which, incidentally, is staffed with a bunch of proven losers).  We could win if allowed to. 

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	Is it all Lies?
Date:	8/22/2021 10:38:43 PM

I figured that Biden would ruin our country, but I thought it would be from the inside, not from the outside.  They don't seem to realize that they have significantly damaged our reputation, and caused other countries to question our ability to project power.  So if our generals knew of the corruption of Afghani leadership and that 50% of their forces existed only on paper, so that corrupt leaders could collect the pay and weapons to sell on the black market, I'm suddenly wondering what else we have been lied to about.  

I sinerely want to believe that if our hands weren't tied with ridiculous rules of engagement that keep up from fighting and winning, we would be a force to be reckoned with.  But if Biden and his cronies can get on tv and tell bold faced lies and people like Austin don't stand up ot him, what is the truth?

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	I don't think so....as of today anyway
Date:	8/23/2021 8:24:14 AM

The problem lies not with our military but with the mission they are given and the rules of engagement.   My Dad used to say that the purpose of the military is to break things and kill the enemy.  When they are used in this fashion they can be overwhelming.  Just ask Saddam, Ghadafi, Hitler, Mussolini, et al.  But it's not the breaking things and eliminating the enemy when they falter.  It's when they are asked to do pretty much anything else that they devolve into just another govt agency that isn't very efficient or effective.  Whether it's nation building, constructing schools, being used for humanitarian missions and so on that they are really no better than any other bureaucracy....except they carry guns which they are pretty much not allowed to use until it's too late.

And I qualfiy it as of today because with their current leadership and what seems to pass for the requirements to become a general officer we are turning our military force into another social experiment.  Heather has two mommies but she will be a great soldier.  We need to weed out extremists from the military....ya know, patriotic Americans that believe we are a great country and not filled with systemic racism, etc.  We need to lower fitness standards so that people that don't meet them can still advance.  Our military used to be a meritocracy where strength, skill, dedication, sacrifice and results were what mattered most.  It is quickly devolving into another way to make everyone equal.....equally incompetent.