Is the United States Ready for a Major Theater War?
JR scores an interview with one of the most important military leaders you’ve never heard of.
Welcome back to the Two Navy Guys Debrief, the (mostly) weekly forum where we look at a national security issue and how we have explored that topic in our fiction.
By the way, if you’re not already a subscriber to the Two Navy Guys Debrief, here’s your chance!
We had good reason for our radio silence these last two weeks. We were finishing the manuscript for Covert Action, Book 5 of the Command and Control series. (More on where we’re taking the series in a future post.)
As longtime readers of the Two Navy Guys Debrief know, in his spare time--when he’s not writing books or teaching--JR has a weekly radio show called National Security This Week.
The mission of the show is to explain national security in layman’s terms. His guests include former national security officials like Dr. Fiona Hill, academics and reporters, and active-duty military members like his recent interview with Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne Bass.
JR’s biggest “get” so far was an interview with former CIA Director John Brennan.
His guest this week might not have the name recognition of John Brennan, but retired US Army four-star General Joseph Votel’s service has been just as impactful.
After leading Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), he took over at US Special Operations Command, the four-star headquarters for the US military’s Special Operations Forces. For most flag or general officers, a single 4-star tour would be the apex of their career. General Votel went to lead US Central Command in 2016, when the fights against ISIS and the Taliban in Afghanistan were at their heights.
JR’s interview covers a lot of ground, including his time in the SOF community leading Army Green Berets & Rangers, Navy SEALs, Air Force Combat Controllers, Marine Corps special operators. (And other units, which we don’t talk about publicly.)
Votel’s time in CENTCOM is fascinating. While they discussed the nuts and bolts of the US role in coordinating combined operations with allies to defeat ISIS, there’s more to that story. General Votel discusses the Al Hol Detention Camp in northern Syria. The camp, which currently holds some 60,000 refugees including women and children, is caught between Syrian Democratic Forces and Islamic State control. In places like this, the aftermath of war is being passed on to another generation.
The interview takes on a central question about our national security future: Is the United States ready for a major theater war against a peer competitor. (Yes, we mean China.)
The Ukraine War offers one data point: we have nowhere near enough ammunition to sustain a conventional conflict against a military peer. All the recent news about sending cluster munitions to Ukraine hides an uncomfortable truth: The US and allies are struggling to meet Ukraine’s ammunition needs. This does not bode well for our readiness.
When the Center for Strategic and International Studies carried out a series of war games between China and the United States over a Taiwan crisis, US forces ran out of munitions in theater—all types of missiles, most torpedoes, etc.—within 10 days. As we talked about in this post, resupply for many of these high-end weapons can only be done in port, which means US Navy ships would need to leave the front lines for weeks at a time to reload.
The interview naturally ventured into the challenges of defense acquisition. The military is by nature not a political organization, but it is impacted mightily by our political process. The recent headlines about Senator Tuberville’s hold on military promotions is a good example of politics impacting national defense, but it is not the only example.
As General Votel alludes to, defense planning and acquisition works on a decade-level timescale while our politics and budgeting operates on a two-year time frame at best. Every time Congress passes a continuing resolution instead of an actual budget (or holds up routine processes, such as promotions) it has long-term ripple effects for our national defense. [If you want to dive down this rabbit hole, this essay, “Another Continuing Resolution? The Enemy Is Us,” in Breaking Defense is a good place to start.]
JR’s hour with General Votel is a not-to-be-missed interview. If you’re in the mood for a fantastic discussion between two professionals who care deeply about America’s national security, you’re in for a treat.
In the past month, we hit a pretty big milestone for us. The Command and Control series has amassed over 10,000 reviews on Amazon! If you’re one of the many readers who took the time to leave a rating or a review after reading one of our novels, THANK YOU!
When we started our writing collaboration in 2014, we were just two friends who wanted to work on a creative project together….fast-forward nine years and we’ve got thousands of readers waiting for the next book in the series. (Yes, it’s coming! We promise!)
Be happy. Stay healthy. Read (or listen to) a book.
As always, thanks for being a supporter –
David & JR, AKA the Two Navy Guys
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The sooner we get rid of Putin the better, then the rest of us (excluding China) can start to restock our weapons and be ready to protect our countries.