Military

The left is losing their collective shit over Trump’s bombing of Iran. They are claiming that it’s unconstitutional. There are, as usual, Democrats claiming he should be impeached for it. DJT can’t take a dump without someone trying to impeach him for it. As far as it being unconstitutional, I would simply point out that every President since at least Eisenhower has taken military action without seeking the permission of Congress. The law simply says that he has to notify Congress within 48 hours. It doesn’t say HOW he has to notify them. I would send them a letter by certified mail. The courts have ruled that, when the law requires a notification be sent or given, that notification is complete upon mailing. Done. Keep the receipt.

There are also those on both sides who are making the claim that Iran is peaceful, not pursuing nukes, and the US shouldn’t be doing Israel’s bidding. Let’s talk about that. First, on Iran being peaceful. I was in the military for many of these incidents, and was actually there for some of them:

• 1983: Iranian backed terrorists detonate a pair of truck bombs in Beirut, killing 241 Marines, 18 sailors, 3 soldiers, 58 French military personnel, and six civilians.
• 1987: The USS Stark is struck by 2 Iranian Air to Surface Exocet missiles, killing 37 US sailors and wounding 21 others. The ship nearly sank, but the crew was able to extinguish the fires, despite a quarter of the crew being casualties. My mistake. That missile was Iraqi.
• 1988: The USS Samuel B Roberts strikes an Iranian sea mine and nearly sank. 14 sailors were wounded.
• 1988: The US and Iranian navy exchanged fire. The US Navy destroyed, damaged, or sank two Iranian oil platforms, three warships, several armed boats, and two fighter jets. Two U.S. Marine aviators died when their helicopter crashed into the Gulf.
• 1988: USS Vincennes is engaged in gunfire with Iranian gunboats. During the battle, a civilian aircraft was headed towards the US warship and didn’t heed radio challenges. It was shot down, killing all 290 aboard.
• 1996: Iranian backed terrorists detonate a bomb at Khobar towers, killing 19 Air Force personnel and wounding nearly 500.
• 2016: Iran captures two US patrol boats.
• 2000: USS Cole was attacked by Iranian terrorists while in port.
• 2024, January: Iranian backed terrorists attack a US base in Jordan.
• 2024, August: Iran backed terrorists use drones to attack a US base in Syria.
• 2024-2025: Iran backed Houthi rebels fire missiles at US Navy ships, including an aircraft carrier.
• 2025, February: Three Iranian gunboats made an attack run against a pair of US ships in the Persian Gulf. They only turned away after warning shots were fired.

They are constantly holding the world hostage by capturing shipping as it passes through the Persian Gulf, mining the Persian Gulf, and supporting terrorism.

The claim that Iran isn’t pursuing nukes is simply wrong. They have enriched Uranium to more than 60%. There is no use for that level of enrichment, except for use as a weapon. Even the IAEA reports that Iran had 2700 centrifuges in place there, which was a violation of the Obama nuclear agreement. Sure, the Obama administration had the Iranians pinky swear that they wouldn’t make a nuclear bomb, and the Iranians would never lie, would they?

As you can see, Iran has been attacking US forces for more than 50 years. In this case, Israeli interests and US interests happen to be the same in this case, and I don’t have a problem with someone finally dealing with those assholes. Sure, we need to try for peace, but you can’t let other nations continually attack you and pretend that it isn’t happening.

Trump has used the US military exactly four times: Against Iran in 2025, Isis in 2025, ISIS in 2020, and LA in 2025. That’s far fewer than any of the last Presidents going all the way back to Herbert Hoover.

To those who would tell me that if I support this, I should go serve? I already did. I was in for six years, and did 2 combat tours. In the late 80s, I was in a bar less than an hour before it was bombed by terrorists. (I couldn’t find a link to the story.) I’ve been there. Look, most of the times that the US military has been used in the past 70 years, it was an unnecessary use of military force, and that includes the 1990 Gulf War. This case? I don’t have a problem with it. Iran needs to be brought to heel. Instead of taking half measures designed to “teach them a lesson” which they obviously aren’t learning, they need to have their war making factories destroyed.

Colonel Sheyla Baez Ramirez. Ramirez assumed command of the Fort McCoy Garrison in Wisconsin in 2024. Ramirez is a left wing political activist who refuses to display the official photographs of the Secretary of Defense, President, and the Vice President.

There is a growing movement in the US military of Commissioned officers who are refusing to display the photos of the President, Vice President, and SecDef. Many of them are being relieved of command. The left is claiming that the Free Speech rights of these officers is being violated to soothe Trump’s ego.

They are wrong. Military personnel are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Article 88 has this to say:

Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

This is important, because the US military MUST be subservient to civilian control. Allowing officers to oppose that civilian control carries with it a large risk of military coup. Seldom is it seen for Generals to engage in military coups. Usually, it is colonels who do those sorts of things.

• olonel Reza Khan’s 1921 coup that brought the Pahlavi dynasty to power in Iran
• The 1931 coup attempts by the Japanese Army (led by Lieutenant Colonel Kingoro Hashimoto)
• The 1967 coup by a group of colonels in Greece that established the military junta
• The 1969 Libyan coup d’état in which Colonel Muammar Gaddafi took power
• The successful coup in Mali by Colonel Assimi Goita

Generals are inherently political creatures, and they are therefore close to the existing power structure the coup intends to overthrow. They got their position through connections, potentially through patronage, and they themselves enjoy powers of patronage and influence. In this case, many of the officers who oppose Trump are there because Biden put them there through DEI programs. They remain loyal to the left.

An example needs to be made of a couple of these mutinous assholes. Start an Article 31 investigation and court martial a couple of them. Reduce them in rank to the lowest you can get away with, toss them in jail for a year or so, and give them a BCD.

This is the state of our military. These are three female Masters at Arms (Navy MP’s). This picture was taken right after they got out of a Navy Law Enforcement vehicle. Massive change in the military is required to end this nonsense.

The Chinese, on the other hand, are a much more credible threat. PLAN (the Chinese Navy) is large, modern, and growing. Six modern, recent nuclear submarines. The diesel submarines that can’t do well in the open ocean work quite well in the shallow waters of the China sea, and PLAN has 45 of them.

They have 46 new destroyers, 44 frigates, and 3 carriers with more under construction.

Contrast that with the US Navy. We have :

• 11 carriers (8 of them are more than 25 years old)
• 9 amphibious assault ships (aka baby carriers, and half of them are more than 25 years old),
• 9 cruisers (all of them are more than 30 years old),
• 75 destroyers (a third of them are older than 25 years), and
• 51 submarines (half of them are more than 25 years old, but all are nuclear).

Also keep in mind that we have to monitor 2 oceans. PLAN only has to cover one. Our Navy still has a decided advantage, but the Chinese are building a lot of ships, and the US isn’t.

Nuclear Weapons

The Chinese own an estimated 600 nuclear weapons and they are expected to have double that number by 2030. It is also estimated that only 24 of them are actually deployed on delivery devices. In both cases, I say estimated because no one really knows for sure. Since they are producing roughly 120 warheads a year, they are quickly growing in capability.

Contrast that with the US stockpile of 3700 operational warheads. That seems impressive until you realize that over 1900 of those warheads are in storage and are not available for use. While the tactical nuclear arsenal could once be deployed on NATO-designated aircraft within minutes, today the readiness level is measured in months. Since 2010, when Obama signed a new nuclear policy, the US has committed to not developing new warheads. He wanted to push us to a near unilateral nuclear disarmament.

For those reasons, China will be a near peer in deliverable nuclear warheads within the next 5 to 7 years.

Too Little, Too Late?

Forcing NATO to begin providing for their own defense and providing their own nuclear umbrella is a wise move, and one that I would like to see Trump continue to pursue. China is our most dangerous and most credible adversary. Russia is in the middle of asking for North Korean assistance in order to invade Ukraine. They just aren’t in a position to threaten the entire world.

China has all of the people it needs. They are in the middle of securing access to minerals and other natural resources worldwide. There are tons of natural resources just to their north, and the only reason that they haven’t gone to go get it is that those resources belong a strong nuclear power. Once Russia collapses, it is theirs for the taking. Opposing Russia and trying to get Europe and the US to fight them is exactly what China wants.

The time to begin producing systems to defend ourselves is now, but we are too busy seeing our tax money syphoned off by greedy, corrupt politicians on both sides of the aisle for that to happen.

The largest threat to the US is, in my opinion, the internal threat posed by the insurgent movement being backed by our own intelligence agencies/bureaucrats. China is our largest external threat.

The Houthis fired missiles at a US aircraft carrier. They have announced that no US ships will be permitted to sail through the Red Sea. Trump is a President who is doing all that he can to keep this nation out of conflict. However, the US cannot ignore a state sponsored terrorist group telling the US that they cannot sail in a given area. The first time this was done has caused the Marines to sing about it for over 200 years after President Madison ordered them to go kick some Barbary ass. The Navy has a long tradition of enforcing freedom of navigation. That is the entire reason why we have a Navy.

In response, Trump could probably order US aircraft to do some serious damage to the Houthi encampments. That will be time consuming and expensive, but he will probably do it. More effective in my opinion would be to go ahead and back up his warning to Iran. They are supplying the weapons, they pay the price.

Initiate Praying Mantis II. For those who don’t remember, Praying Mantis was a naval action in 1988 that saw the Iranian navy get its ass kicked over an 8 hour period by the US Navy. I don’t think that they learned their lesson the first time.

The Iranian navy has 6 submarines, 7 frigates, 3 corvettes, and a whole bunch of smaller craft. I think that sinking most of their Navy would perhaps be appropriate. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of days. If they try to defend those ships with aircraft, shooting most of them down would also be appropriate. If the UN and International court don’t like it, that’s just too damned bad.

Why does the EU/UK need the US to be involved in the Ukraine affair? All you have to do is look at the numbers.

• The EU has a population that is 50% larger than the US- 518 million, compared to our 340 million. (UK 68 million, EU 450 million).
• The GDP of the UK/EU is $20.5 Trillion, compared to the US $27.2 Trillion.
• The UK/EU spends $394 Billion (UK $68.3 Billion, EU $326 Billion) on defense. That is 1.9% of its GDP.
• The UK/EU spends $1.2 trillion on medical care and $4.5 trillion on welfare benefits. That’s a total of $5.7 trillion, or more than a quarter of their GDP. That’s why they can’t afford a military, but that’s OK, the US will supply that, am I right?
• The US spends $1 trillion on defense, or 3.7% of its GDP, with a fifth of that going to support the defense of Europe. A third of the money spent on Europe’s defense comes from the US, with the other 2/3s coming from the 32 countries of Europe.

While all of this is going on, while Europe is demanding that we the United States do something to stop Russia, they are busy buying Russian oil. So much oil that the Russians have received more European money over the past three years than has Ukraine.

Europe has been spending their money on free healthcare, vacations, and baubles because they can afford to. The US is taking care of the defense budget. That’s what Trump has been complaining about- the nations of Europe are, like teenagers, spending all of their money on music and fast food because the US is acting like parents, and taking care of the groceries and home expenses.

Now tell me why American money needs to go to Europe, why Americans have to enter a war and die, all so Europe can continue partying like it’s a Frat party funded by Europe and the US.

It’s time for that to end. There is no reason why the nations of Europe can’t take care of Russia. The US has a bigger problem to deal with- China. The thing is, what is going to be needed to deal with the Chinese threat isn’t going to be the same as needed for Russia.

Russia only has 8 surface warships in service that are less than 25 years old and larger than 1,000 tons, and they are all Frigates. The remainder of their surface Navy is more than 25 years old, in drydock, or a Corvette (similar to a Coast Guard cutter).

They have one nuclear attack submarine that was built this century, the rest are cold war relics. The only attack submarines they have that are less than 25 years old are diesels.

That’s OK for shallow water operations, but they are no longer a blue water navy. They can’t protect SLOCs, nor can they project power. The Russian navy is not really a force projecting service any longer.

I am not saying that the US has no business interests in Europe, because that is false. The US has business interests in every nation in the world. That isn’t the same thing as a vital national interest. Our military doesn’t exist to make sure that no business venture in the world has risks. No American should die just so some businessman somewhere doesn’t lose money. The US military isn’t here to provide a risk free business environment for all of the nations of the earth.

It’s time that we stop being Uncle Sugar, the World Police, and stop borrowing money that we don’t have to provide security to Europe while they enjoy all of the fruits of our labor, our blood, and our treasure.

Joe Blow decides to call me stupid for stating that the Ukraine/Russia war is a stalemate. Normally, comments attacking me like that wouldn’t make the blog, but Joe is a long time commenter and has earned a bit of grace. He just needs some facts.

The fact is that Russia only controls 19% of Ukraine, and about a quarter of that was the territory in the Crimea that was taken a decade ago. The fact is that the front lines have been largely in the same place for the past three years. This is where the lines were in November of 2022:

Now look to see where the front lines are now:

Nearly two and a half years later, and there is virtually no difference. In fact, in terms of territory held, there have been no gains since the first year of the war.

You can see that the Russians made huge gains in the initial two months of the war, then Ukraine won back some territory within six months, then the lines have remained virtually stable since. That’s called a stalemate. In the meantime, over one million lives and half a trillion dollars have been lost, and for what?

I see absolutely no US national interest in this war. None. The “oh, we need to defend Ukraine or the Russians will take over Europe like Hitler did” is simply a weak imitation of the domino theory, a stupid holdover from the Cold War that has been used as justification for every stupid useless war that the US has been involved in for the past 80 years.

There is not a reason to spill a single drop of American blood, nor waste a single American dollar on a war that simply isn’t our problem. Let Europe worry about this one. I don’t think that Russia is going to go to war with the European Union unless the EU keeps beating war drums and trying to start one. We need to stop letting France, Britain, Russia, and Germany drag us into the wars that they have been fighting in Europe for over 1,300 years. If they want to keep fighting, let them, but there is no reason for us to be involved.

The fact that members of the EU have been refusing to allow US military units to purchase supplies is beyond the pale. For example, a Norway company recently refused to allow a US submarine to purchase diesel fuel for their backup generator, and called for other companies to do the same. The Norwegian government quickly backed away from this boycott, which is good for the EU, because if I were Trump, my first step would have been to pull all nuclear weapons from EU bases. All of them. It’s something that is quick and easy to do, and sends an unmistakable message to the EU: our military cooperation with your country can disappear overnight, if you want to fuck around.

The US is NATO and the EU has been taking advantage of the US security guarantee to increase social spending while ignoring defense. The number of main battle tanks in EU member states has decreased from 15,000 in 2000 to 5,000 today. The US has 4,657 main battle tanks in NATO territory, meaning that the US is 50% of NATO’s military strength. Even THAT statistic is misleading. Italy, for example, has about 200 Ariete tanks, but only 50 of them are fully operational, with the rest of them being in various stages of disrepair. If this is typical of NATO member states, the US forces in Europe make up 80% of the entire NATO force. What do we get in return for that?

This is why the EU has so much money to spend on social programs. The US military has 100,000 troops in Europe. That equals ten percent of our entire military, costing the US about $200 billion a year. What do we get in return for that?

The message being sent by Trump is unmistakable- the days of Uncle Sugar being exploited are over. The EU can screw around with Russia, but at the end of the day, they don’t have the forces to take on a large war.