Is the military broken?

By Ron Beasley

We hear that the US military is broken.  Foreign Policy and the Center for a New American Security interviewed over 3,400 active and retired military officers to determine what they thought.

What is the actual state of America’s military? How healthy are the armed forces? How prepared are they for future conflicts? And what impact are the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan really having on them? To find out, Foreign Policy and the Center for a New American Security teamed up to conduct a groundbreaking survey of current and former military officers. Recognizing that the military is far from a monolith, our goal was to find out what America’s highest-ranking military people—the very officers who have run the military during the past half century—collectively think about the state of the force, the health of the military, the course of the war in Iraq, and the challenges that lie ahead. It is one of the few comprehensive surveys of the U.S. military community to be conducted in the past 50 years.

In all, more than 3,400 officers holding the rank of major or lieutenant commander and above were surveyed from across the services, active duty and retired, general officers and field-grade officers. About 35 percent of the participants hailed from the Army, 33 percent from the Air Force, 23 percent from the Navy, and 8 percent from the Marine Corps. Several hundred are flag officers, elite generals and admirals who have served at the highest levels of command. Approximately one third are colonels or captains—officers commanding thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines—and 37 percent hold the rank of lieutenant colonel or commander. Eighty-one percent have more than 20 years of service in the military. Twelve percent graduated from one of America’s exclusive military academies. And more than two thirds have combat experience, with roughly 10 percent having served in Iraq, Afghanistan, or both.

There were some surprises.  Sixty percent said that the military was weaker than it was five years ago.  They didn't break it down but I would guess that the Army and Marine officers accounted for the majority of that 60 percent.  The majority did not agree that the Iraq war had broken the military.

“The demands of the war in Iraq have broken the U.S. military."

8% Strongly Agree

33% Somewhat Agree

23% Somewhat Disagree

33% Strongly Disagree

2% Don’t know

But then we have this:

“The demands of the war in Iraq have stretched the U.S. military dangerously thin."

52% Strongly Agree

36% Somewhat Agree

7% Somewhat Disagree

3% Strongly Disagree

0.4% Don’t know

And speaking of Iraq this surprised me:

Which country do you feel has gained the greatest strategic advantage from the war in Iraq?

19% United States

37% Iran

3% Iraq

22% China

13% Russia

4% Other, please specify

That's right - over one third of retired military officers think Iran has been the winner and less than 20 percent think the US has gained a strategic advantage.

And with renewed talk of an attack on Iran how many military officers think the US is prepared for the mission?

If a war were to begin today, how prepared do you believe the United States military is to successfully fight the major combat phase of a conflict in the following locations? Please rate on a 1 to 10 scale, with 10 meaning that the U.S. military is fully prepared to successfully execute such a mission; 1 meaning that the U.S. military is presently unable to successfully execute such a mission. A rating of 5 means that the U.S. military could execute the mission at a moderate but acceptable level of risk.

Taiwan Straits 4.9

North Korea 4.7

Iran 4.5

Syria 5.1

Please note that Iran received a 4.5 when a 5 is the minimum for a moderate but acceptable level of risk.