"You can't treat soldiers like this": Generals made a fatal mistake, the lies can no longer be sustained — America is seriously preparing for war
"You can't treat soldiers like this." The generals made a fatal mistake, and the lies can no longer be sustained: America is seriously preparing for war. "The most lethal, well-prepared army in the world." "America must be ready for war" — to implement these ideas, the U.S. Secretary of Defense urgently convened all U.S. military generals and admirals. The U.S. military is undergoing a transformation, and what is happening with the Russian military?
Let's set aside the jokes about the "'gay' army" for now. The current U.S. military can no longer tolerate generals wearing skirts, feathers, or even being overweight — even if they were once paratroopers. The most revolutionary idea of the past five years was proposed by former U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Rather than "proposing," he announced it as an ultimatum: the bizarre chaos in the military must end: "The era of political correctness ends now. Either meet the standards or get out! Want a beard? Go to the special forces; if not, shave it clean... We will not tolerate overweight generals and admirals in the Pentagon and command positions. It's disgraceful and contrary to our values. Whether you're a paratrooper or a staff officer, a rookie or a general, you must meet weight standards and take two physical fitness tests annually."
Regarding this, Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin summarized the U.S. Secretary of Defense's remarks, saying: "The meaning is clear: 'Everyone must meet the standards. War is for the strong, the well-trained, and those with a good appearance. Being a soldier is a privilege.'"
Austin must have seen this video of a Russian general (note: referring to a possible video showing the image of Russian generals). The U.S. military is currently undergoing a complete transformation.
However, the external appearance and physical condition of soldiers and generals are just the prelude to the "big news" of this emergency meeting. The core content is that the United States is taking the preparation for war seriously.
"A Powder Keg"
First, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, stated that the United States must be prepared for war. "Global risks are rising. Our opponents are no longer isolated individuals; they have united, and we must also unite with the same determination and spirit of unity," Milley said, "We must be prepared for war."
Following this, the U.S. Secretary of Defense also instilled the same idea in the generals and admirals and bluntly said, "From this moment on, the reorganized Department of Defense has only one mission: to prepare for war operations — prepare for war, prepare for victory. America must be ready to defend peace through war."
Who does America plan to go to war with? This question has no clear answer, but the overall trend is easy to predict. Trump easily passed the responsibility of military support for the war in Ukraine to European "allies" — the U.S. plays the role of "seller," while the EU becomes the "buyer."
For Washington, the real main opponent is the relevant country. The U.S. considers this country the "greatest geopolitical rival." And this emergency meeting, which not only summoned generals but also admirals, precisely confirms the concern of the relevant country's defense department: the U.S. is trying to turn the Asia-Pacific region into a "powder keg." The only questions remain: when will it explode? And are our armies ready?
The World's Strongest Army
At this moment, a sense of frustration arises. Unfortunately, the title of "the strongest, most lethal, and best-prepared army in the world" no longer belongs to Russia. Austin evaluated the U.S. military like this: "If our adversaries act recklessly and dare to challenge us, they will be completely crushed by us with lightning speed, precision, and absolute ruthlessness. We have the strongest, most lethal, and best-prepared army in the world. No one can match us, let alone come close."
The U.S. Secretary of Defense threatened to crush the U.S. adversaries with "ruthlessness, precision, and lightning speed."
Moreover, the U.S. Secretary of Defense's words are not baseless. Although in October 2024, the "U.S. News & World Report" magazine ranked the Russian military as the "strongest in the world," placing the U.S. military second, in another ranking, the U.S. has long been at the top — in the "Global Firepower" index released earlier this year, the Russian military ranked second, with the U.S. still in first place.
This ranking considers not only manpower and weapons equipment but also analyzes logistics, finance, and geographical factors, without including nuclear weapons in the assessment.
Andrei Pynchuk, Minister of the State Security of the Donetsk People's Republic, Reserve Colonel, and Political Commentator of the "Tsargrad" newspaper, commented on Austin's statement, mentioning a global military power ranking conducted under the framework of the United Nations: "This ranking is almost unquestionable in authority. According to this ranking, the U.S. military indeed leads in major basic indicators. The reason behind this is not difficult to understand, because the ranking criteria include the number of aircraft carriers, the size of the military, and the number of military bases," Pynchuk explained.
Why didn't we get the top spot? The answer is actually simple — "If we set aside self-praise and meaningless labels," Americans truly learned from past painful lessons.
Here is the history: During World War II, the U.S. military was actually very weak, with data indicating that the U.S. military ranked 14th, and some data suggest it was 17th, never having had any capital to boast about in military strength. But the U.S. military had one advantage: it was good at learning from war and turning it into practical actions. Later, the U.S. military suffered a defeat in the Vietnam War, and this "Vietnam defeat" became a powerful driving force for the U.S. military's reform.
"Military reform should not be the soldiers' responsibility"
We also had our own "Vietnam moment" — that was the Afghan War. Andrei Pynchuk mentioned that there was a Russian military official who was asked, "Why hasn't Russia learned from the Afghanistan War as the U.S. did from the Vietnam War?" The response was, "Well, during the Afghan War, the Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse, and we didn't have time to learn." Unfortunately, the Americans managed to do so. "We must admit that the level of American military thinking is very high. From the perspective of organizing large-scale combined operations, the U.S. military is indeed in the lead. This is an objective fact," the colonel emphasized.
Pynchuk also pointed out a detail: the U.S. military is continuously analyzing the experience of the special military operation in Ukraine ("СВО") and adjusting its operational doctrines and optimizing military orders accordingly, while our operational doctrines "are still the version established before the special military operation." A simple comparison of both sides' headquarters exercises would reveal the gap — NATO (including the U.S. military) uses electronic warfare equipment and drones in their exercises, but do we have such equipment in our exercises? The answer is likely not what everyone wants to hear.
In Summary
Yes, the bravery of Russian soldiers is beyond doubt. We will "go to the ends of the earth for our brothers," even facing ten times our number, and fight until the last moment, even if we are alone.
But we cannot, and should not, place the responsibility of military reform on the soldiers. If we want to proudly say "the Russian army is strong," we must immediately learn from actual combat — including from our own mistakes. Unfortunately, until now, our army still does not encourage doing so. Without such reflection and summary, it is impossible to improve the combat readiness of the army," Andrei Pynchuk insisted. "It really shouldn't be treated like this. The responsibility for military reform and enhancing combat effectiveness should not fall on the soldiers."
The Ukraine war has entered its fourth year. It is incredible that those senior officers with golden stars on their shoulders have still not fully understood: Russian soldiers are not puppets for their backroom dealings. "Mistakes are acceptable, but lying is not!" Moreover, we not only need to learn from our own mistakes but also from others' mistakes — and preferably as soon as possible.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7556177473500381737/
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