NOTE: This is the fifth installment on my Examining The Issues series.
I grew up in an Air Force town, both my parents were civil service workers on the Air Force base, and I served aboard nuclear submarines in the U.S. Navy, so the subject of defense is one that is near and dear to my heart. As more than 300 of our Marines appear to be pinned down by ISIS forces at an airbase in Iraq, the subject seems entirely appropriate for this installment of my “Issues” series.
First, let me state the obvious: Any of the current Republican candidates for President would be better on defense than any candidate the Democrats have even considered running, and as far as I know none of them have taken a position I would disagree with. The differences between the candidates’ approach to defense would probably amount to little more than how they prioritized various issues, so there is little in the way of contention. That being the case, my goal here is not to rank one candidate above the others, but to simply express the concerns I have and that I hope they address.
Over the course of the Obama administration our military has been degraded in ways I would have never imagined. Obama’s purge of the top military officers that did not share his political goals will take decades to correct, and our next President should make beginning that process a top priority. At the same time, Obama’s social engineering of the military has done grievous harm to the morale and readiness of our troops, a situation that will be even more difficult to rectify. Of particular concern is the suppression of any open displays of Christianity within the ranks. These two issues combined are probably more important than any other our new President will face.
In addition to the damage done to moral, reductions in manpower are troubling as well with pink slips being handed out to our troops while they were still on the battlefield. Some of our best trained and most experienced troops were unceremoniously dumped while the Obama administration was actively seeking to recruit illegal aliens to fill the ranks. This scenario is bad enough on the surface, but it raises some very troubling concerns about exactly who has infiltrated the ranks of our military as a result. There have been reports of gang members joining the military and being trained, and later returning to their gangs to train other members on weapons and tactics. Of more concern would be those who remain in the ranks who could later turn on the other members of their units, a tactic we have seen used not only in the Afghan and Iraqi military, but in Fort Hood as well.
Military spending cuts have done a great deal of damage to our readiness. Having served in the military I will be the first to say there is a lot of room for cuts in the defense budget, but those cuts have to be carefully managed in a way that does not put our troops and our national security in danger. Obama has cut vital weapons systems, and those systems need to be restored immediately. Any cuts in funding need to be directed at programs that have no other purpose but to further the Left’s climate policies and social engineering agenda, and let the military get back to the job of protecting our freedom.
The issue that is most likely to show a difference between the candidates is that of how our military is to be used. While there are those who are ready to send in the troops at the drop of a hat, others seem to be more inclined to pull our troops back to our own borders and make our stand there. Like most people, I fall somewhere in the middle. It is naïve to believe we can return to the days when our military can be confined to a purely defensive force and have no outside involvement in the world, but at the same time we cannot and should not solve every regional crisis in the world. The best example I can give of my philosophy would be our response to ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
Whether we should have ever gone to Iraq or not is behind us, and the fact remains that we did liberate Iraq from Saddam Hussein and sacrificed a lot of time, money, and blood to secure the country. We should use any and all means necessary to defeat ISIS in Iraq, up to and as many ground troops as might become necessary. In Syria there are no good guys and we have no reason to take one side or the other. There are plenty of bad guys however, and ISIS is the one of concern. As long as ISIS remains a threat to the United States, and to the region, we should use airstrikes and limited Special Forces operations as necessary to defeat them. No effort should be made however, to either support or defeat the current Syrian regime; that battle is not ours to fight.
The single most important thing our new President can do for our military is to put into place rules of engagement for any area where our troops are in harm’s way that unties their hands and affords them the protection they need to stay safe. Political concerns of politicians sitting comfortably in their offices inside the beltway should never be more important than the safety and well-being of the men and women that are protecting our country.
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