It’s been 18 years since I retired from the Air Force. They still let me on base, but being retired is an outsider position, with no real insight to what’s going on in the organization. This year’s Heritage Foundation report confirmed suspicions brewing in news reports for years.
“For decades, the perception of American strength and resolve has served as a deterrent to adventurous bad actors and tyrannical dictators,” the report reads. “Regrettably, both that perception and, as a consequence, its deterrent effect are eroding. The result is an increasingly dangerous world threatening a significantly weaker America.”
Being conservative hawks, of course they’re always lobbying for more defense spending. Playing catch-up will be a more expensive defense strategy, with less available to spend on it going forward. Chickens are roosting.