Why today’s troops fear a new war is coming soon
Nearly half of all current military troops believe the United States will be drawn into a major war soon, a jarring rise in anxiety among service members worried about global instability in general and Russia and China in particular, according to a new Military Times poll of active-duty troops.
About 46 percent of troops who responded to the anonymous survey of currently serving Military Times readers said they believe the U.S. will be drawn into a new war within the next year. That’s a jarring increase from only about 5 percent who said the same thing in a similar poll conducted in September 2017.
Another 50 percent think the country will not end up in a major conflict during the next year. But that number is falling, down from more than two-thirds of those surveyed last fall who said a war was unlikely.
The fears of war come as President Donald Trump in the last year has repeatedly emphasized improving military readiness in the face of growing threats from foreign adversaries, both loosely affiliated terrorist groups and traditional major power rivals. At the same time, top Pentagon officials have spoken publicly about the need to prepare for a conflict against a “near-peer” adversary.
When asked about specific countries, troops said Russia and China were among their top concerns. The poll showed a big increase in the number of troops who identify those two countries as significant or major threats: About 71 percent of troops said Russia was a significant threat, up 18 points from last year’s survey. And 69 percent of troops said China poses a significant threat, up 24 points from last year.
According to their study, the Air Force supports the President the least and the Marine Corps supports the President the most. How shocking is that? I doubt their study actually reflects what most “Troops” think but the data is interesting to play with.
Source: Why today’s troops fear a new war is coming soon
Category: Foreign Policy, Military issues, Politics, Terror War
Oh, here we go. Someone who doesn’t have enough to do and doesn’t remember the Cold War is trying to ramp up the rhetoric about Who is Who and What is What, and as usual, thinks backwards.
Why would China attack us? Because we take our tech manufacturing jobs and go home? Yes, that will really butter their bread, won’t it?
Russia? Vlad wants to sell his natural gas and oil, and attacking a potential sales target is not exactly like trying to annex Afghanistan.
They’re just copying us, that’s all. Russich see, Russich do.
As production that has been offshored to China is repatriated, China is likely to attack either military aircraft or ships that transit with West Philippine Sea without kowtowing to Peking.
Some may think Xi is cunning, but many saw Hitler so as well. Chinese military isn’t completely under the control of the Central Committee, and some officer is likley to make a very stupid move on any of our people that act in accordance with international norms, which China has repeatedly brushed off.
It won’ take them long to regret that sort of idiocy/
Troops fear war?
Well, then they are on the wrong career path.
I thought military service was sans peur and the training was to ensure that.
The word “fear” is injected by the reporter…the question didn’t ask what they “fear”, just what they think…hmmmm….
As always, you must watch these liberal weasels, and yes, they have burrowed into military publishing, for how they try to subtly alter reality with their wording. They aren’t as obvious about it in the various Military Times publications as they were when they took over and ruined the news weeklies like Time and Newsweek, but they are definitely embedded there nonetheless, hoping to reshape military political thinking.
How’s about these little snowflakes head back to the 70’s and 80’s when the prospect of the balloon going up was very real and very constant?
But… but… Sparky, that would remove all that technocrap they rely on to disperse inadequate guesswork and inaccurate information. They’d be stuck with land line telephones and paper & pencils. And newspapers. And no access to instant communications except by telephones. And they’d have to watch ABC/CBS/NBC instead of CNN, and listen to mind-pudding music.
Wait – I think it’s a real good idea, after all. Drop them off during Nixon’s administration, in the middle of traffic full of cars that use leaded gasoline.
Don’t forget the 50’s and 60’s with the constant “duck and cover” exercises in grade school.
We grew up immersed in fear yet we joined.
Life has been pretty good in this country ever since.
https://youtu.be/ClQcUyhoxTg
Don’t fear the reaper.
Great song. Been a while since I heard it. Thanks for the flashback.
Needs more cowbell.
You got it.
https://youtu.be/R8fpVNhiqKQ
Can’t be scared, gonna happen to all of us, just be ready. This video just caused me to go find the polycarbon 33 rpm version of this and pump it out thru a Marantz 4415 quad rcvr/amp into matched Marantz Imperial 7s and Sansui SP 1200s spinning on a Panasonic RD 2900 Direct Drive Turntable. Hardware circa 1973. Played backup Cowbell on original 1858 Mennonite Dairy Farm Bell. Knocked the dust off of the ceiling fan blades. A good time was had by all (except the cats, scared hell out of Smokey & Kaykitty; Sassycat beat feet) Chapman and Trixie (dogs) thought it rocked.
still using the Kenwood component system and Dual turntable I bought at the PX stereo store in 1978. Predates the wife, and should she not make it through the probationary period (only been 40 years to date) the tunes are MINE.
“Don’t Fear the Commie”.
And remember: in Communist countries, 2 + 2 did in fact equal 5.
I do fear their insidious plot to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids.
Purity of Bodily Essence/
You Apes wanna live forever?
I can’t wait. It’s about time for another one….
Oh great. The “I joined for the benefits” crowd is freaked out they might actually have to do something of note for said benefits.
I “joined for the benefits” in 1987. Those benefits included trips to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Somalia, Croatia, Sarajevo, Albania, Afghanistan, and other fun places. And I’d do it again.
Any shitholes you haven’t visited?
Yeah but did you get the T-shirt?
And a mug. Need a mug or you weren’t there.
Also, why do we care whether troops support Trump or not? Why are we even asking? This is the military- take your personal opinions and shove them.
I hated Obama but I went to war under him. Can you do the same? If you can, great. If not, I hear Leavenworth is great this time of year.
Since Bradley Manning was released, I hear it’s good year round.
Fear, huh?
If anything, the Marines are probably getting their beds in anticipation. A real, live shooting war? With enemies that actually fight? Why, yes, please, sign me up!
Maybe I oughta go reenlist in the Reserves. Too old for them to take me back active, unfortunately.
I agree with all the above comments. The words fear, anxiety, and worry did not appear in the question regarding going to war within the next year and the writer just up and decided, unilaterally, to project his fear, anxiety, and worry on the respondents. As for the USAF and Navy being more left than the USMC or Army, yeah, what else is new. And regarding the enlistees who fear the possibility of armed conflict, if they were stupid enough to believe the commercials and overlook the services’ primary mission, they indeed made a very bad decision.
How true. Any one that doesn’t fear combat is foolish. Given all that splodey stuff, and flying metal that seeks to ruin your bilateral symmetry, it would be foolish not to fear it.
That natural fear, however, is why we train(ed). I liked what one former Sptznaz troop said about “rising to the occasion,”
“You don’t rise to the occasion, you fall to the floor. The floor is your training.”
He had it exactly correct. As Jerry Pounelle (A Korean war Red Leg) said, “It isn’t a rational act to fly straight and level over Regensburg,” which is quite true, but you know that your job requires it, and you’ve been trained to do that, so you grit your teeth and face your fear with resolution.