The chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness is warning that it’s only a matter of time before China tries to invade Taiwan and that the Department of Defense needs to shift its focus from enacting “woke” policies to ensuring troops are prepared to address this threat and other threats to U.S. national security.
“You can debate if 2025 is the right year, but it is a matter of when, not if, anymore,” Chairman Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital. “And we have to do more with our military readiness to convince China not to make that move.”
Waltz said he largely agrees with a memo from four-star Air Force Gen. Mike Minihan – the head of Air Mobility Command – which predicted that the U.S. will be at war with China by 2025. . . . .
. . . . . Meanwhile, Waltz said the Department of Defense’s focus on climate, COVID vaccine mandates and social policies has deterred young adults from joining the military and could hurt United States’ readiness.
Waltz said military personnel are “disturbed” that some senior leaders think “climate is the greatest existential threat,” and he said they are concerned about the emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion.
“I think it has affected our readiness, and we’ve had the worst recruiting year in the last year since Vietnam,” Waltz said. He said the vaccine mandates have been “deterring young men and women from signing up. People have been leaving the service because of it.”
Waltz noted that some officials in the Biden administration have said climate change is an “existential threat” to the United States. That’s a reference to comments made by the secretary of the Army, who said the United States should “take all of our tanks and fighting vehicles electric within the next couple of decades.” . . . . (read more on Fox News)
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A General Warned of an Impending War with China. Airmen Under His Command Say it Was ‘Inappropriate’ (Military.com, 31 JAN 23)
When the email inboxes of every airman with Air Mobility Command pinged on Thursday afternoon with a lengthy memo from their commanding officer, Gen. Mike Minihan, many recipients thought it was sent as a mistake.
“I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025,” one part of Minihan’s memo, dated Feb. 1, read. Another section instructed airmen with weapons qualifications to “fire a clip into a 7-meter target with the full understanding that unrepentant lethality matters most. Aim for the head.” He also advised airmen to update their virtual Record of Emergency Data, essentially their dependents’ contact information and wills.
Some were shocked at what they read: Their commander confidently believed that they’d be at war with China in two years and they needed to prepare for combat.
An Air Force officer with Air Mobility Command who received the email and attached memo, and who spoke to Military.com on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media, said the communication sparked immediate concern.
“Some of my airmen are going to get scared when they read this memo,” the officer said. “I felt like a random email blast to thousands of airmen was an inappropriate way to direct them to essentially prepare for war with a near-peer adversary.” . . . .(read more)
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