Our Military Strength
Several of the candidates for president in the Republican camp have mentioned that they will build our military back up and bring them back to full strength. There is not much information available to the common man about what has been going on. We are aware that President Obama has purged the generals and the admirals and forced the ones he doesn’t like to take early retirement. He only wants leaders who will do what he says.
If the military is weaker than they were previously, we still have the most capable and best-trained military in the world. I have been researching the four branches of our military to see what I could find about them. As a military fighting unit, the Army of the United States in May of 2016 had 500,400 young men and women serving our country. It is down about 65,000 men from the total in 2011. The army uses helicopters in battle and in transportation. Over 3000 helicopters are in service for the army. A few of them are 50 years old. Many of them like the Black Hawk are nearly new and have the most modern features for battle and transport. We have a fighting force in Afghanistan but we have peacekeepers all around the world including Germany and Japan. In some of the countries, the economic effect of our military helps to keep the country solvent. Even Germany would be seriously crippled if we pulled out all of our military forces.
Alongside our Army, the Marines currently have 186,800 members, which are down from 202,000 in 2011. Both of the combat forces have the latest in weapons that are available. They have protective apparel and vehicles that are equipped for protection against explosive devices. Some of the vehicles they are still using are vulnerable but many of them have double armor on the underside of the vehicle. When the current soldiers are compared to the soldiers of World War II and the Korean Conflict, it is quite different today. In the previous wars, there were battles where the deaths were in thousands on some of the days. Of course, any death is deplorable but now the daily death with numerous dining rooms. Each ship desalinates its own water and purifies it for human consumption. It carries several complete medical facilities with surgical abilities for emergencies. It has space to store its airplanes inside of the ship and mechanical facilities to repair and rebuild the various airplanes.
The United States Air Force currently has 308,600 active personnel. There are U.S. air bases all around the world where the American Air Force personnel operate landing strips. One in five members of the air force personnel is female. There are no positions in the air force that are not available for women including pilot, mechanic or officer. The Air Force operates about 70 different models of air vehicles. Of the planes, about 1400 are fighters and bombers. The remainder of the planes are for transport, training and material supply shipping.
These four branches of our military are the basis for our national defense. All of them report ultimately to the president who is the commander in chief. There is a strong chain of command from the top down to the privates in the Army. There has never been an attempted coup in the United States by the use of the military by the commander in chief. The framers of our Constitution included in our first ten amendments (Bill of Rights) several protections to try to keep this from happening. The Second Amendment (which some liberal politicians want to abolish) guarantees the right for all citizens to own weapons that can be used to prevent an attempt to overthrow our government. The Third Amendment says that the government cannot seize the home of a citizen to be used by the military. The Fourth Amendment protects the citizens from search and seizure of anything from our homes without a warrant from a judge. The judge must have probable cause that a crime has been or is being committed to justify the search.
Our military is the best in the world, but it must remain strong and ready. Our military strength is the best negotiating tool that we have.