According to a recent Gallup poll, the public is paying attention to those failures: Public confidence in the U.S. military has plummeted to its lowest point in over two decades.
“At 60%, confidence in the military was last this low in 1997 and it hasn’t been lower since 1988, when 58% were confident,” the poll reveals.
Stretching back to the 1980s, Ronald Reagan’s presidency, the Gulf War victory, and American’s response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Americans were proud of our armed forces and their sacrifices.
And then came President Joe Biden’s administration.
"We are witnessing the implosion in real time," warns Bradley Miller, a former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, "of what has historically been a highly regarded institution in the view of the American people.”
Miller previously served as a battalion commander in the 101st Airborne Division. In October 2021, he was relieved of command for refusing the jab under the unlawful direction of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his COVID-19 vaccine mandate for service members.
Miller's refusal, and the Army's punishment, ended a 19-year career.
“Sadly,” Miller laments, “the military has wildly deviated from its responsibilities to support the Constitution and uphold cultural values.”
He contends the "erosion of trust” is directly linked to the direction in which senior military officials have led the force over the course of the past few years. Citing the vaccine mandate and Afghanistan withdrawal, the former airborne officer says Americans are now witnessing the Pentagon's "unbelievable endorsement" of transgender service members. Those military members are undergoing hormone replace and major surgeries, all paid for by taxpayers, but are then useless to their commanders while doing so.
It appears American civilians have now concluded, Miller says, "readiness and defense are no longer the Pentagon’s top priorities.”
In fact, some military veterans are concluding the Pentagon is doing far worse than just ignoring its purpose to "kill people and break things" with its $2 trillion budget.
"When I tell you the communists aren’t DESTROYING the military, they’re building one for a different purpose," Jesse Kelly, The First TV host, tweeted this week.
Kelly, a U.S. Marine veteran, has warned for some time the Pentagon is purging right-leaning, patriotic, and religious service members who are viewed as troublesome by the military's top brass. On social media and on his radio and TV shows, he has read first-hand accounts from those veterans who say they were purged by their top commanders.
A recent AFN article similarly pointed out current service members and veterans alike are actively discouraging their military-age children from donning the uniform for reasons of distrust and unlawful actions.
It is likely that resistance is one reason the military branches are struggling to hit their recruitment goals and find new recruits. In the case of the U.S. Army, which pushed out Miller, it has missed its goals two years in a row and has considered lowering its standards despite the warnings of its own top generals.
In his interview with AFN, Miller says the most visible sign many have lost confidence in their own military is the actions they are taking: They are walking away.
“On top of those forced out over the unlawful COVID-19 vaccine mandate," he advises, "thousands of other troops elected to leave service earlier than they otherwise would have.”
Many of those have vowed never to return, even if they are wooed with a new military assignment, Miller says, which is also a sign that trust has been broken permanently.
The most alarming aspect of this loss of confidence, however, is that the trend does not appear to be changing anytime soon.
“Despite the extreme levels of distrust by those in and out of uniform, top military leaders seem unwilling to realign their priorities with the interests of the American people," he concludes.
