It is not difficult to understand the Biden approach to governance and the military priorities of his administration if one studies the Biden FY 2022 budget submittal — made late on a Friday night before an extended holiday weekend because it is not something they are proud of.
I focus solely on the US Army budget because it is the easiest to decipher and unpack, and it is a clear indication of the Biden military intentions.
Some background
During the Obama – Biden administration, the US Army was decimated. It was neglected and put the US in a dangerous posture.
During the last year of the Obama – Biden admin, the US Army reported only 3 of 58 brigade combat teams as combat ready.
Stop for just a second, the US Army self-reported that 55/58 of its brigade combat teams were not ready to go to war when going to war was their sole objective, their raison d’etre. That is treasonous neglect.
“Don’t worry, soft Americans, this will be fine. Who needs an Army that can fight and win? You have no reason to worry. Vladimir approves of this message.”
During the subsequent admin, that number was raised to 58/58 brigade combat teams ready for combat.
The current international threat to the US has grown with the Chinese, the Russians, the Iranians, and the North Koreans all looking to test this President and this administration.
“I drink a toast to my good friend, Job Biden. Say hello to Hunter for me, Joe. Don’t worry about that US Army budget. We will take Taiwan by force of arms and everything will be fine. Haha, focus on climate change.”
The 2020 US Army budget
In response, the Biden admin has requested a $173,000,000,000 annual budget for the US Army in FY 2022.
To keep pace with inflation — no increased capabilities whatsoever — that number should have been $180,000,000,000 by admission of the admin’s own number crunchers in the Pentagon.
Effectively, the Biden admin seeks to reduce US Army spending in a time of impending peril. This is the Biden policy translated into numbers.
The Biden admin achieves this reduction by reducing specific programs within the US Army:
1. The Biden budget reduces training for combat with fewer visits (26 in 2021 compared to 17 in 2022) to national training centers by combat units.
These visits to combat training centers are critical to keeping an edge on our combat units.
2. The Biden budget reduces joint exercises with NATO allies by more than $300,000,000.
NATO is being encouraged to reduce its spending after the prior admin fought with them to simply meet their Atlantic Treaty funding obligations.
The Biden budget laughs at this consideration and the NATO nations will follow that lead.
Tell me why this and the Nord Stream 2 project will not embolden Putin?
3. The Biden admin reduces all growth initiatives as it relates to bayonet strength while bending over backwards to initiate social engineering modifications to the force.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Chief of Staff of the US Army are adamant that we need a minimum force of 500,000 Army soldiers whilst we have a current force of 440,000 with reductions on the way.
The Vietnam War force was 3,000,000 and we had a strategic commitment to fight and win two separate wars simultaneously. The Obama admin abandoned that strategic objective and commitment.
The bi-partisan National Defense Strategy Commission recently opined: “Simply put, the United States needs a larger force than it has today if it is to meet the objectives of the strategy.”
3. The Biden admin slashes equipment acquisition programs, programs (like the Blackhawk, Apache, and Chinook modernization programs by more than 33%) that in some instances go back to the Obama – Biden admin.
4. The US Army is replacing the ancient M113 armored personnel carrier with the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle.
In the Biden admin US Army budget how many AMPVs do we purchase? ZERO
We will have US Army units using APCS that the current soldiers’ grandfathers used in Vietnam. WTF? [They were lousy then.]
This is further compounded by a universal INCREASE in spending of SIXTEEN PERCENT (16%) for all other Federal departments except for Defense and Homeland Security.
The Biden admin grows the non-defense elements of the budget by 16% while starving defense and the US Army.
So what, Big Red Car?
The ‘so what’ is this — we live in a progressively more dangerous world in which both the Chinese and the Russians are on the prowl. What keeps them within the guardrails? The American capability to defeat them militarily and the threat, the credible threat, of American capabilities.
There is no question that the US Army (and all other services) were woefully degraded during the Obama – Biden admin. We are getting ready to do the same thing again.
Bottom line it, Big Red Car
We are getting to revisit the hollow, toothless, dangerous US Army we had when we only had 3/58 brigade combat teams combat ready.
This is how it happens. This is folly. This is dangerous and the Chinese and the Russians are watching and acting accordingly.
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car.
In case your were wondering, Climate Change is not the biggest strategic threat to the United States. It is the policies of the Biden admin that will leave us unprotected in a time of great peril.