Clinton Legacy Watch #2: The Re-Emergence of a Hollow US Military

(Washington, D.C.): President Clinton
reportedly has become obsessed with his
“place in history.” If so, he
would do well to begin rethinking his
Administration’s policies, budgets and
programmatic decisions that have caused
immense harm to the combat capabilities
of the U.S. military. After all, if past
experience proves once again a guide to
the future, the vacuums of power
being thus created will once again invite
aggression for which the United States
will be grievously unprepared.
History tends to look uncharitably upon
leaders whose judgment exposed the
Nation, its people and treasure
unnecessarily to grievous harm.

Evidence continues to mount that such
might well be the Clinton presidency’s
most notable legacy. Even Mr. Clinton’s
own Pentagon is now finding this evidence
so pervasive that its internal memoranda
offer powerful indictments of the
hollowing-out of the American military
that has occurred on his Administration’s
watch.

In the Pentagon’s Own Words

For example, the front page of today’s
Washington Times discloses the
contents of one of these memorandum
documenting the current, sorry state of
key elements of the U.S. Air
Force, based on field visits to
“warplane squadrons, repair depots,
the Air Force entry-level pilot school
and an air-refueling unit.” The
following are among the serious
deficiencies identified in this 24 July
1997 memo prepared for the Deputy Under
Secretary of Defense for Readiness, Louis
Finch:

• A general distrust of
  senior leadership:
  “The pilots liked the
  quality of the mid-level
  leadership, but totally disliked
  their senior leadership. They
  stated that they did not trust
  senior leadership and that things
  are getting worse. In general,
  they felt they were lied to,
  betrayed and treated very
  poorly.”
• Serious deficiencies in
  maintenance work from at least
  two major depots:
  According to the Times,
  “the memo states that nearly
  two-thirds (65%) of engines for
  the giant C-5 cargo jet are
  returning from repair shops still
  malfunctioning.” This
  apparently reflects, at least in
  part, instability arising from
  President Clinton’s decision to
  inject politics into last year’s
  Base Realignment and Closure
  (BRAC) Commission’s
  recommendation to close two major
  air logistics centers in the
  politically sensitive states of
  California and Texas, agreeing to
  their closure as military
  installations but announcing that
  they would remain in business as
  “privatized”
  facilities.

The DoD memo observed: “Due
to the ongoing political contest
regarding privatization [at these
installations], there is little
quality or quantity of work being
produced. Both workers and plants
are underutilized. Further, the
operational units are not
satisfied with the products
received from the depots.”

• Serious morale problems: The
  memo reported that,
  “Discussions with fighter
  pilots reveal a great deal of
  dissatisfaction with the ongoing
  deployments. There is no
  training, they are not doing what
  they are trained to do, they are
  simply ‘boring holes in the sky.’
  Combining this lack of mission
  satisfaction with increased
  airline hiring makes civilian
  life much more attractive.”
• ‘Particularly negative’
  situation at the ‘training ground
  for future pilots’: The
  memorandum suggests that its
  authors were particularly
  troubled by what they found at
  the facility responsible for
  preparing the next generation of
  Air Force combat pilots, an
  installation traditionally
  staffed by the service’s most
  skilled aviators. “The
  instructor pilots at [the Air
  Education and Training Command at
  Randolph Air Force Base in Texas]
  are sick of high Operational
  Tempos. Most said they came to
  Randolph as a three-year break
  from being gone from home too
  much on deployment. Most also
  said they will be getting out of
  the Air Force as soon as their
  commitment is over.” One can
  only imagine, if matters are this
  bad in the Air Force how serious
  is the morale condition
  afflicting Navy, Marine and Army
  units that are experiencing even
  longer, and far more onerous,
  overseas deployments.
• The wrong sort of
  training: Especially
  alarming were the complaints of
  officers at the 940^th
  Air Refueling Squadron
  “everyone [of whom]
  complained that the number of
  days of mandatory training per
  year be capped and purged of
  everything that is not mission
  essential or job critical. All
  of the politically correct,
  brainwashing, propaganda and
  white laboratory mouse training
  should be purged from the
  curriculum.”
  (Emphasis added.)

The Bottom Line

The Congress, the media and the
American people have a responsibility to
insist on changes in the quality and
character of attention the military
receives from the Clinton Administration.
The problems outlined in the Defense
Department memo suggest an Air Force that
is rapidly losing its ability to fight
and prevail in the Nation’s wars.
Unfortunately, the Air Force’s experience
is being replicated, or worse,
by that of the other armed services.

It should come as no surprise that the
sustained, draconian cuts in military
spending on today’s readiness and
tomorrow’s — combined with the
social experimentation in the armed
forces enforced by periodic purges
carried out in the name of political
correctness — have been taking their
toll. If the United States fails to take
corrective action, chances are that
President Clinton will find his place in
the history books written in the
needlessly wasted blood of American
soldiers, sailors and airmen.