The United States Armed Forces
Jay
April 5, 2009, 4:07 pm

In the era of limited warfare it may be hard to believe to believe that the United States Armed Forces are incomparably mighty. We're talking heavyweight champion of the world against a bunch of flyweights, a Gulliver among Lilliputians.

It's hard to believe because our record after WWII has hardly been stellar. We fought a draw in Korea, "lost" in Vietnam, and barely scraped by in Iraq. For the mightiest power in human history, our military credentials aren't that great. But that's only if you look at it from one way. From the other, the numbers and anecdotes tell a much different story.

From a financial standpoint, the United States Armed Forces can take on almost all other nations' armed forces combined. The United States accounts for over 40% of global defense expenditures.

Below is a chart listing the top 10 countries ranked by annual defense expenditure:



Figures were compiled from the Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook. The latest (2005-06) estimate of defense spending relative to GDP was multiplied by the 2008 estimates of nominal GDP for each country. The chart above also does not include costs related to the offensive engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As you can see, US defense expenditures far outstrips any other country, and that's only part of the picture. The United States is also the global leader in military exports. Our armaments and weapons systems are sold, at unit prices much higher than our own procurement costs, throughout the world. Our most technologically sensitive exports are watered down and less effective than the products that our own military uses.

The United States military also exclusively operates the most advanced weapons systems in their respective classes, including (but not limited to) the F-22 air superiority fighter, B-2 Spirit strategic bomber, Nimitz class aircraft carrier, etc etc. This list by no means denigrates our soldiers and Marines either. Our regular combat personnel have the most rigorous training and conditioning and are the world's best warriors.

All the decades of our Cold War military spending (via the military industrial complex) enabled our Armed Forces to take a quantum leap in logistics, technology, and theory. Our military is far and away the mightiest on Earth. And it's not just because of our shiny toys (though they are a big factor). It's because of our logistical chains, the warrior ethos of those serving in our all-volunteer outfit, and the ingenuity of our defense contractors, which are the largest and most technologically advanced on Earth.

The failures of our military endeavors abroad were not failures in combat. Our military cannot be beaten in the open field or even asymmetrical warfare. Too often our military is beaten by domestic forces, most notably war fatigue amongst the American public.

For example, the Tet Offensive is widely considered the turning point in the Vietnam War. It was a military disaster for North Vietnamese forces, but the psychological effect of the initial phases of the Tet Offensive upon various members of the American press (most notably Walter Cronkite) convinced them that the war was unwinnable. They then turned to the American public and convinced them likewise.



In regards to Iraq, a string of bad judgments and mistakes have been made and cost billions of dollars and thousands of American lives. But these mistakes were not mistakes relating to combat. The astonishingly brief ground war was brilliantly executed and fought, as the US military, along with the British, sliced through Saddam's divisions on the road to Baghdad within weeks. It was only after major combat operations had ended did our real problems emerge.

The United States military, as it turned out, did not have the experience or tools for nation building. Our forces were not trained nor equipped to spread democracy. They were trained and equipped to fight. But they eventually acquired an instinct and knowledge to not only keep the peace in Iraq, but improve upon it, before public opinion and overzealous politicians would order our troops home in ignominious defeat.

Today and in the future, when our military engages enemies abroad, be sure to understand the differences between a military victory and a political victory. Our armed forces will always get us the former, but the burden of the latter falls on our politicians and on our citizenry.