Last week, Congresswoman Barbara Comstock (VA-10) penned an editorial published by The Winchester Star outlining why, “rebuilding our military and revitalizing our national security must be our nation’s top priority if we are to preserve and promote peace and prosperity.” Comstock has been a big support of servicemen and women during her time in office and has worked to maintain the validity of the U.S. military are those who defend the country.
“Over the past year, America has reasserted its leadership and thousands of our dedicated U.S. troops were able to defeat and destroy the “caliphate” of the Islamic State. While this does not end the terrorist threats that face us around the world, it removed the territorial basis of ISIS and stopped some of their more systematic human rights abuses. With our military restored, I am confident we will continue to meet the many challenges the United States has always rallied to face.”
Approximately 2,000 U.S. troops have been fighting along side Syrian Democratic Forces inside the war-torn nation. Recently, forces backed by the 75-member Global Coalition To Defeat ISIS have reclaimed the city of Raqqa, the former self-proclaimed capital city of the terrorist organization in Syria.
Furthermore, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development are coordinating with officials to assist in stabilizing cities and towns after ISIS is defeated. According to a report from ABC News, international organizations will help with removing rubble, rebuilding schools and hospitals, and restoring services like electricity and water.
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has announced that military troops will remain in the recently-liberated areas and the civilian presence will increase as the U.S. works to prevent a new terror group from forming.
As the U.S. has bolstered peacekeeping operations around the globe over the past few decades, aggressive actions directed from Russia, North Korea, and the Middle East have increased. To prepare for a possible military response as the U.S. as carried out against ISIS for years, but on a larger scale, a battle-ready armed forces should be maintained, not only for an assured response but a prevention of aggression in of itself.
“That is why rebuilding our military and revitalizing our national security must be our nation’s top priority if we are to preserve and promote peace and prosperity. As President Reagan observed, “Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the United States was too strong.” The hollowing out of our military in recent years due to sequestration that began under the Obama administration has coincided with a more dangerous world in places such as North Korea and the Middle East.”
However, many may not understand that the nation with the largest, most advanced military on Earth may be faltering. Due to aging ships, planes, and other materiel support, a rebuild of the military’s most effective aircraft, vessels, and weaponry is a must. Though, the military has been somewhat hollowed out in recent years due to sequestration that began during the Obama Administration.
Comstock listed the factors behind the hollowing out of the military. The U.S. is now subject to the smallest fighting force since 1940, a Navy that shrunk from 500 ships in 1991 to 277 now, less than 50 percent of our planes are combat ready, the average age of an aircraft is 27 years old, only five of 58 Brigade Combat Teams are ready to “fight tonight,” and sixty-two percent of the F-18 aircraft are out of service for major repair or maintenance.”
Due to this, Comstock has increased support for rebuilding the U.S. military to provide for safety not only in the homeland, but internationally.
“It is the primary Constitutional responsibility of the Congress to provide for our national defense. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has powerfully explained the devastation of the sequester cuts: “I retired from military service three months after sequestration took effect. Four years later, I returned to the Department and I have been shocked by what I’ve seen with our readiness to fight. For all the heartache caused by the loss of our troops during these wars, no enemy in the field has done more to harm the readiness of our military than sequestration.
Secretary Mattis told Congress the truth: At a time of rising threats, we were not properly building for the threats that face us and the defense-budget sequester is the reason. With the budget we passed last month, and was signed by the president, we stopped the sequester cuts and fully funded the military at $700 billion for Fiscal Year 2018 and $716 billion for the next year — the amounts requested to fulfill the military’s mission to protect our homeland and national security. No longer will our national security be held hostage by these artificial sequester caps.”
The U.S. military has long been a pawn in the federal discretionary funding game. When Congress follows through with a funding sequester, reservists and those in the National Guard are hit with a disproportionate impact. Therefore, training and readiness are degraded, inspections and operational mission support hampered, and deployments curtailed.
The Hill reports that, “according to a Marine Corps Reserve officer, shutdowns and budget uncertainty limit a Reservist’s ability to plan — one of the key skills our nation asks of them.” Budgetary fights rob servicemen and women of their most precious resource – time.
When they are forced with training changes, shooting range cancellations, and rescheduling that postpones activities into the next training year, that places tremendous burdens on the individual, families, and the employer. Furthermore, it undermines readiness that the U.S. boasts and violates the nation’s agreement to stand with ones who protect its sovereignty.
Budget delays are also a driver of higher attrition rates in the military, creating an atmosphere of confusion outside the fog of war. The legacy of sequestration is an underfunded U.S. military, ill-prepared to face the most complex and dangerous national security environment as threats from around the world increase.
“From 2010 through 2014, the defense budget was cut by 21 percent, according to analysis from the Center for Strategic and Budget Assessments. That means that our military got smaller and less capable at the same time our threats around the world grew stronger. Investments in new technologies were deferred, while adversaries such as Russia and China doubled down to close the gap. The combination of rising threats, declining budgets, aging equipment, and shrinking forces has produced a military readiness crisis.
The budget we passed in Congress this year, turns that around and strengthens our military, provides our troops a 2.4 percent pay raise — the largest since 2010 — bolsters missile defense, drives innovation in military technology and cybersecurity, and builds on the defense reforms Congress has passed in recent years. Most importantly, this legislation will help reverse the dangerous readiness crisis that is endangering the lives of our men and women in uniform.
This budget provides the Defense Department, as well as our companies and contractors that work with our defense leaders, with the budget certainty they need to begin the process of long-term planning, rebuilding our military, restoring readiness, and modernizing our forces.”
Although the notion of symmetrical warfare has been fading with the advent of highly-advanced military technology, there is always a need for a readiness to fight and to put boots on the ground. Unfortunately, members of the military, while fighting enemies abroad, come home to domestic battles that originate in congressional budget arguments.
The men and women of the nation’s armed forces join because the wish to protect the U.S., but now many are unable to do so on a short notice as the amounts requested from Congress to fulfill the mission of the military are used as political bargaining tools. As threats increase, those who believe that the U.S. should not spend billions and billions of dollars on military funding would be sadly mistaken is the time were to come to defend our countrymen and women.
Virginia benefits from much of the Department of Defense’s budget. As a part of President Trump’s campaign promise to rebuild America’s military, the U.S. Navy will be relying on Newport News to host the military’s newest additions.
“In Virginia, the higher funding levels will lead to improvement of the U.S. Navy’s public shipyards, like Norfolk Naval Shipyard, leading to more workers and workforce development as the Navy develops a plan with proposed infrastructure projects to return to a 355-ship fleet.”
Weeks ago, Congress authorized $5.9 billion for Virginia-class submarine construction projects, $698 million over President Trump’s original budget request. This occurred amid the pending construction of a brand new fleet of Colombia-class subs which are critically important to the shore’s shipbuilding economy. House Armed Services Committee member Rob Wittman (VA-1) at the time urged other lawmakers on the Appropriations Committee to fund construction in line with the authorized level “to the maximum extent possible.”
The funding has great implications for the economy of Newport News, both short term and long term, allowing the U.S. Navy to begin construction on the new submarines set to commence in 2021 and has a deadline in 2031.
“Additionally, at Langley Air Force Base, full funding the NDAA encourages the Chief of Staff of the Air Force to ensure that Combined Air Operations Center-Experimental (CAOC-X) and other regional CAOCs are resourced, manned, and fully utilized.”
As military operations become more advanced, protecting the U.S. and her allies will involve an increased use of drones and next-generation weaponry.
Langley’s CAOC-X is home to a massive computer network tracking simulated war efforts. The base acts as an operating system, giving information to commanders who orchestrate battle plans in air, space and cyber space.
The installation is important for getting new technology and military applications up and running before they hit the battlefield. “We test what we field, and field what we test,” said Lee Grieve, the AOC-WS test director, according to a release.
“Since Virginia is a home for many of our defense, homeland, and national security companies, large and small, our community and businesses will play a large role in providing the innovation and expertise needed to rebuild and strengthen our military and national security capabilities. Our local leaders in defense, technology, cybersecurity, and innovation can now be unleashed to tackle these challenges, and I will continue to work with these vital communities to protect the peace the promote our prosperity.”
Virginia’s Iron Lady seldom lets budgetary battles circumvent her support for the U.S. military as she has a proven record of fighting to protect national security. As she promotes a Reagan-esque”peace through strength” initiative to rebuild America’s military, Comstock will undoubtedly be an integral part of advocating for the stability of our nation’s fighting forces
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