The US military is no stranger to having to adapt to a crisis in one of the countries they are deployed within. Coronavirus is a bigger matter, however, because it’s not just some countries, but all of them, and the military is trying to adapt everywhere.
In Iraq, this has meant cutting off training to avoid large crowds. In Afghanistan, recent deployments are being quarantined to avoid exposing the existing troops to anything. In Europe, a major NATO drill is being repeatedly scaled back.
Before the crisis, the NATO exercise was meant to be the biggest US deployment in Europe in years, and has been revised several times since, reducing the number of troops and some of the things they were going to do.
US officials are downplaying the seriousness of having to scale back all of these exercises, saying that they learned important lessons.
As even a hybrid hoax, COVID-19 smacks of something deeper than just a pandemic. Its completely predictable that the U.S. military will ignore it and try and hold pins on the map, even try to game COVID-19 as an advantage.
Withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq should be a minimum response, because the civilian logistics needed by the military face the potential of mass failure.
If COVID-19 was a weapon, the U.S.A. was the ultimate target of the release. A giant killer. Novel coronavirus may be no more serious than the flu, but the flu is already no joke but never been politicized. One bad mutation, and COVID-19 is not just a bad cold or flu anymore.
Either way, Rome’s decline as an empire began after the Antonine Plagues. Best get ahead of this curve. If the military cannot fight outbreaks at home, doing so in-theatre isn’t going to work.
Good news !
“In Iraq, this has meant cutting off training to avoid large crowds.”
Training, training, always training. 17 years in Iraq and 19 years in Afghanistan has taught us something. We literally suck at training.
Since when were we in Iraq to do “training”??? I thought Trump made it pretty clear that we were there to grab the oil and now that oil is under $20 a barrel, to simply stay under cover and avoid the Iraqis “training” their sights on us.
Couldn’t agree more. I thought the “training” fairy tale deserved its own mention. You’d think they’d stop saying that given the results of said training. Hey, just give them 6 more months to turn that ever elusive corner.
Perhaps they could practice going home and getting a real job.
Practice makes perfect… well.,maybe.
Much like less government = more freedom, less US military = more peace.
So I’m sure the costs of exercises, like the euro one, will be returned to the general fund ? …… ;?]