Defensible or defenseless

"We live in a very dangerous world (as evidenced by October 7th), so a strong defense is paramount."  

What is the world is going on with the new defense budget? I mean, it is an increase over last year (by a little). It is a whopping $842 billion dollars for GFY 2024. That sounds like a lot of money. But (hold on bucko) - I don't think it is enough. With $842 billion? How could that not be enough? It is worth looking at this a bit closer.

DEI - I might as well get the stinky one over with first. For reasons unknown to most, Biden and company are still stuck on this DEI thing for government workers - including those in the DOD. And it cost a lot of money - like $270 million for one fiscal year. Guess who likes it? Just about nobody. People go in the armed forces to learn how to protect this great country, NOT to learn 153 pronouns. When the new president is sworn in January of 2025, this DEI stuff will disappear faster than a hypersonic missile in flight.

NGAD - Many are wondering why in the world we need to develop a new jet fighter when we already have the F-35 and F-22 right now? Both are world class 5th generation fighters. Here is the truth as I understand it. Whomever has air dominance (that is what the AD stands for in NGAD), will rule the skies and the battlefield. Right now, we have it but could lose it if China bootstraps their J-20 into a 6th generation fighter. We will be pouring a lot of money into this program over the new few years. We need to get to a 6th generation fighter first. 

Recruiting and Retention - Hello? Is anyone paying attention? Our recruiting and retention stinks right now. Some of it is related to this DEI crapola. Here is the long and the short of it. If we want professional war fighters, the best of the best, we need to pay them like the best. The pay scale in the military is in dire need a of a general overhaul. Get rid of all the PC crap and jump the pay scales. That should fix much of what ails our recruitment and retention.

Munitions - Even though the administration has tried to put some lipstick on this pig, it is not working. We are low on many of our munitions. We need a major program to refill our depots in short order. Should war breakout over Taiwan, we could be in real trouble. This issue needs to be fixed like yesterday.

Weapon Assistance - As we all know, there are still two wars going on which we are helping out on. Both Ukraine and Israel need our help NOW. Ukrainian forces have knocked Russia down from extraordinary to ordinary in less than two years. Israel will eliminate Hamas - forever. I would say that both of those outcomes are a good deal for us. 

Bottom line - as expensive as our DOD budget is, it is not enough. My suggestion is to juice it up to $1T. In know, it is a lot of money. But let's use some offsets - like a lot of our green new deal and PC stuff. We live in a very dangerous world (as evidenced by October 7th), so a strong defense is paramount.