Heritage Report Supports Growing Fears About Military Readiness

As more and more research and study results show US military readiness suffering from internal cultural decay, Liberty Nation will bring this information to our readers. A timely Heritage Foundation report identifies more evidence Biden's Pentagon is more political and less potent in leading America's military. A recent Liberty Nation article recounted the House Oversight Committee's probe into military readiness. Now, the Washington, DC, conservative think tank has released a comprehensive study validating what other research has indicated throughout President Biden's time in office.

At the core of the Heritage Foundation's study is that current US military cultural policies are hurting readiness of the armed forces and driving a lack of trust in the military to uphold American values in a crisis. Since the Biden administration took over, America's faith in the Defense Department to defend and preserve fundamental values on which the founding fathers established the nation is faltering. Much of the problem with eroding trust in the US military stems from what Americans perceive as errant leadership and foolish non-value-added policies making US warfighters weaker, not stronger.

CRT and Other Valueless Programs Reduce Military Readiness

"The concept of CRT (Critical Race Theory) is anathema to the core principles of the US military, an institution that depends on a team approach, one where every member must rely on one another and not have to worry that his leader or his subordinates doubt their abilities or decisions based on considerations of race, gender, or ethnicity," the most recent Heritage research explained. The think tank study panel was particularly keen on the finding that 68% of those in the study believed the US military was significantly or somewhat politicized, and the same percentage expressed reluctance to recommend military service to their children.

When specifics of the answers were explored in greater detail, the statistics were even more troubling. The Heritage panel survey asked, "To what degree have the following events or reports decreased your trust in the military?" Two answers topped the list. First, they were "Changing of policy to allow unrestricted service by transgender individuals in the military,” prompting 80% to respond, "A great deal or some." The second response was to the impact "The withdrawal from Afghanistan" had, and 71% of the responses were "A great deal or some." The overall findings of the Heritage research on the reduced confidence in the military are consistent with similar findings by the Military Family Advisor Network, showing military and veteran families who would recommend service had declined from 74.5% to 62.9% - or 16% in the past three years. "A February 2022 Pew Research poll reported that the percentage of Americans who had either a great deal or a fair amount of confidence in the military declined nine points between 2020 and 2021," the Heritage study panel said. In addition, a recent Gallup poll found a five-point drop in Americans' confidence in the military in a single year.

In December of 2022, a study from the Reagan Institute painted an even darker picture of US citizens' trust in America's military. According to the Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal, "The Reagan Institute releases an annual survey of public attitudes on national defense, and this year only 48% reported having ‘a great deal of confidence’ in the US military in results first detailed here. That's down from 70% in 2018 and within the margin error of last year's 45%." Moreover, quoting directly from the Reagan Institute's findings, "Over half of respondents (55%) say the performance and competence of the military's civilian leadership—meaning the Secretary of Defense and civilian leadership at the Department of Defense—decreased their confidence in the military."

Secretary Austin Defends Military Readiness

But the Secretary of Defense doesn't want to hear criticism of the administration's progressive policies. In a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) said to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III, "As one of your first acts, Mr. Secretary, you put our military – every single member, active duty and Reserve – to a mandatory training to root out extremists. That sent a message … that our military is filled with extremists.” Secretary Austin ordered a stand down of the entire active duty and reserve forces for two-hour tutoring on extremism.

Caitlin Doornbos, writing for the Post, quoted Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) challenging the secretary, "[But] the stand down day to address extremism cost the military and taxpayers nearly 5.4 million man-hours." The secretary responded with a testy quibble, saying it was really only 4.2 million man-hours. Also, as one of his first acts as secretary, Austin ordered a comprehensive study to ferret out all the so-called extremists, primarily white extremists, in the armed forces. After nearly a year of intense investigation, "fewer than 100" of the 2.1 million active duty and reserve military members were found to meet the definition of extremist. All this valueless effort is not lost on the troops. Consequently, as Liberty Nation has consistently reported, ills facing the US military in recruiting and low morale can be placed at the fee of the Pentagon leadership. More studies are saying the same thing.

The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliation.