So Military - Ready to fight tonight? Not so much, say some army soldiers. The US military may not be as ready to go to war with China or Russia as it seems.
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On June 9, 2021, US soldiers arrived at the Agadir military airport in Morocco to participate in the "African Lions" military exercise.
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On June 9, 2021, US soldiers arrived at the Agadir military airport in Morocco to participate in the "African Lions" military exercise. Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images
It's an old saying: The Pentagon has said for years that US troops on the Korean Peninsula are ready to "go to war tonight" if war breaks out between North and South Korea, or almost anywhere else. But according to an internal survey obtained by the Foreign Office, not everyone in the army is so sure, especially the infantry, who probably did most of the fighting and dying.
In a US Army survey of more than 5,400 soldiers and civilians from various ranks conducted in July and August 2020, 14 percent of respondents said their troops were ready to deploy, fight and win immediately. Some 13% of respondents said they needed more time, while 3% said they would be ready within a week and 4% said a month later. Fifty-six percent of respondents indicated that the question did not apply to them, possibly because the majority of respondents were civilians.
But the numbers are even more striking when broken down by level. Less than 20 percent of warrant officers, highly specialized soldiers deployed to Afghanistan and other U.S. theaters during the U.S. post-9/11 war, said they believe their troops can win today. While fewer generals responded to the survey, about 40 percent of them believed they could deploy immediately and win.
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"If it went to war today, I think the Army would be in a bind," said retired Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Spohr, who oversees defense programs at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "Some brigade combat teams are well trained, but there are also some brigade combat teams that are well trained."
State Department obtained the investigation as part of an 81-page "Army COVID-19 Campaign Plan" compiled by the service last year as part of a Freedom of Information Act request.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Terrence Kelly said in a statement that senior Army leaders always believe the force is "ready to fight and win, whether it's today or last summer."
Kelly emphasized that the survey was conducted in mid-2020. "At the time, 61 percent of relevant respondents said they were ready to deploy, fight and win within a reasonable time frame, from today to a month," he said. He noted that the army has resumed normal training and has provided vaccinations to more than 93% of active service members, adding that the army's combat training centers are operating at full capacity.
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Spoehr and other experts see the results as reflecting a troubling decline in Army readiness, the military term for combat readiness of active and reserve units, as service leaders complain that inflation is taking a toll on flat budgets. In its annual assessment of U.S. military power released last week, the Heritage Foundation cited Army data showing that 58 percent of brigade combat teams, the service's primary post-combat force, are at the highest level of the tactical readiness were, eight points below the service target The percentage is 16 percentage points less than last year.
"The Army's readiness has peaked and begun to decline, and if the budget is approved as presented, I think it will decline even more," Spohr said.
But the Defense Department's readiness issues aren't limited to the U.S. military. The services have struggled to keep up with their training as the Biden administration tries to flatten the Pentagon's budget and invest in modern weapons systems for future conflicts with China or Russia. The Pentagon's latest budget proposal would reduce rotations to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, where troops train a dedicated unit that can simulate US adversaries like Russia and China, rather than requiring troops to train on home soil, in less realistic conditions condition.
The Navy and Air Force work to master basic skills for recruits and keep their ships and aircraft in service. A U.S. A Navy investigation into the fire aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard last year found that sailors did not know how to fight fires because they were not drilled together and did not know their roles and responsibilities. The Government Accountability Office found in November 2020 that of 46 different types of US military aircraft, only three achieved a "mission capability rating", a measure of whether an aircraft can carry out its full mission.
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Readiness data is valued by the US military, as well as foreign militaries training for possible future wars with the US, such as China and Russia, in search of clues about how US forces are preparing to respond to them.
As some active duty, reserve and National Guard units step back from their daily duties in the early months of COVID-19, distributing vaccines, conducting testing and delivering aid to state and local governments, the impact will be felt, the military said leader. continue. 19 breakouts. In February, Army Chief of Staff James McConville said he was ready to sacrifice the readiness of his troops to defeat the pandemic, including the elite 101st Airborne Division.
"The Army is committed to doing that, and does that affect readiness? Of course," McConville said at an event in February. "The troops that are doing this, they are not training the way they need to be, but we have to defeat this enemy."
When asked if the virus has affected the day-to-day operations of army units, 37 percent said they are handling it well, while another 34 percent said they have had an impact but their units are "taking care of it adequately."
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The survey, which comes as the US Navy faces the spread of COVID-19 aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which was forced to suspend operations and return to port in Guam, also reflects the challenges of Army and others during the pandemic, the United States. Military had to maintain great training.
While the U.S. military temporarily restricted large gatherings last year based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on public events, 65 percent of soldiers surveyed by the Army said they had recently been in a group of 35 or more people have trained at least four times. But the army canceled the massive Defender Europe exercise, its largest on the continent, in 2020, then held a scaled-down version of the initiative later that year.
The findings also point to a greater disconnect between senior Army officers pushing a high-tech agenda and soldiers who have trained on the same equipment for decades, experts said.
"When you go to [national training centers] and combat units, and you try to ask them about multi-domain warfare, they say, 'I don't know what you're talking about.' I still have the same equipment now,''' said John Spencer, chairman of Urban Warfare Research at the US Military Institute Modern Warfare.
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