We might not expect more of President Trump based on his own history of evading wartime service. And yet he avoided landing in Iraq or Afghanistan, missing the opportunity to see these battlefields, hear directly from commanders there, and meet the troops following his orders. (President Barack Obama first visited Iraq in April 2009 and then visited Afghanistan in March 2010.) Trump even had a perfect opportunity to do so in May, during his Middle East trip, when Air Force One literally had to skirt Iraq when flying between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Trump has now had six months in office to visit the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, like his predecessors did on multiple occasions. But it’s imperious to do so and unlikely to instill confidence among members of the military or the public. Summoning the troops to the White House for such a lunch is a presidential prerogative, to be sure. He’s actively sought to corrode their integrity, by politicking before military audiences and using them as props for his most controversial domestic policy proposals like the travel ban. He’s also added insult to injury through his repeated missteps and gaffes involving service members and veterans, from the campaign trail to the White House. Trump’s abdication of his leadership role and refusal to give the troops resources would be enough to declare him a failure as commander in chief. If Trump wanted the military to do less with less, he could make that happen, but right now he’s forcing it to do more without adequate resources. But so far Trump has chosen neither better strategy nor better management he’s doubled down on commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan without a clear strategy for either and blustered his way into confrontations elsewhere. Managing the Pentagon better could shave a little off the top as well. Shortening the list of military obligations would reduce the numbers of troops, ships, planes, and bases drawing on the massive Pentagon budget. Some of these resource shortfalls could be addressed through strategy or better management. Transforming the military, and adding new capabilities like a cyber corps or space corps, will take even more money-money that, so far, Trump has failed to procure from Congress. Military aircraft are literally falling out of the sky (and killing troops) because of a lack of resources for training and maintenance and deferred modernization, too. All four services arguably need more personnel, newer weapons systems, and more money to fund training. Process failures aside, the Pentagon still does not have the aggregate resources it needs to continue fighting two wars, carry out special operations missions around the world, deter Russia and North Korea through forward deployments, and conduct myriad other missions. This uncertainty adversely affects long-term procurements for aircraft and ships, frustrates personnel planning, and makes it impossible to forecast training resources and rotations. The perennial failure of Congress and the White House to reach a budget deal in a timely manner creates uncertainty that ripples through the entire military establishment. These failures-which fairly belong to both Trump and Congress-are creating risk for our military around the world.
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