US military in weakest form in a decade, American think tank warns
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The Heritage Foundation expresses concern that the US military is facing dangerous problems causing its decline while its adversaries are growing stronger.
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US Paratroopers prepare to deploy to the Central Command area of operations, which includes West Asia and Afghanistan, from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in January 2019 (AFP)
The United States military is currently at its weakest point in the past decade with no signs of this trend reversing, while its adversaries are only growing stronger, according to a report published by the Heritage Foundation commenting on the think tank's annual Index of US Military Strength.
Last month, the organization released its 2024 assessment of the US military, concluding that the military currently "is at significant risk of not being able to defend America’s vital national interests with assurance."
Basing its evaluation on capability, capacity, and readiness, it rated the overall condition of the US military for the second consecutive year as "weak".
Not a producer
The decline in the military's prowess spreads across both its capacity and capabilities, the report said, noting that White House officials continue to dissipate the US military's power in "never-ending wars" in West Asia (Middle East), the Washington-based think tank said in its commentary.
As per the foundation, the reality today is that the United States is not a producer, while China has been on the other side of the spectrum. It cited China's capacity to build ships, saying it is 32 times greater than that of America.
The United States bipartisan elites "decided to export manufacturing capability overseas in exchange for cheap consumer goods," the index report added.
In the same context, Robert Greenway, the director of the Allison Center for National Security at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital in January that while China's Navy is growing and modernizing, the US Navy has seen a "slow decline".
"The Navy has had too little shipyard capacity to keep its fleet maintained, too few ships to pace the threats, and misguided leadership that has instigated a recruitment crisis," he warned.
Drug and porn addicts
In October 2023, a report by Newsweek pointed out that the US Army size has shrunk to its lowest size since World War II. In February 2023, the Pentagon admitted to difficulties in recruiting new people to the US Army.
According to the foundation's post-assessment remarks, the military's failure to reach its basic recruiting targets is directly linked to a generation of millions of young Americans who are "out of shape, addicted to drugs and porn," and unwilling to risk their lives for their home country.
"Our elites abandoned an entire generation of boys," it concluded on that matter.
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Confirming the think tank's conclusion, the Newsweek report also mentioned that in November 2022, only 23% of young Americans were deemed fit enough to join the Army because the remaining fell below fitness and intelligence standards due to obesity issues and poor schooling.
Detailing in its 2024 index report the recruitment crisis, the foundation said that “the current US military force is at significant risk of being unable to meet the demands of a single major regional conflict while also attending to various presence and engagement activities."
It also warned that the "force would probably not be able to do more and is certainly ill-equipped to handle two nearly simultaneous MRCs — a situation that is made more difficult by the generally weak condition of key military allies.”
