British Royal Marines dominated members of the U.S. Marine Corps in a simulated battle campaign last week in the California desert, and the multi-national training exercise once again raises questions bout the readiness of the American military under its current leadership.
Two months following a humiliating and deadly surrender to the Taliban in Afghanistan, U.S. troops were routed in the Mojave Desert last week during a five-day training exercise that saw America and its closest ally face off.
“The conclusion of the exercises, known as Green Dagger, was five days of grueling warfighting which saw allied forces — from the US, Canada, United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands and UK — join forces to take on a highly-equipped US Marine Corps adversary,” the Royal Marines said in a news release.
“The exercise focused around three urban sprawls which were defended by allied forces, the largest of which consisting of 1,200 buildings purpose built for militaries to test themselves among,” the release added.
The Daily Telegraph reported on the simulation in greater detail, noting that throughout a five-day period, Royal Marines got the upper hand on American forces in a mission to seize the other’s assets on a battlefield. The Brits reportedly “dominated,” which left Americans seeking a “reset” halfway through — meaning they surrendered.
The Brits bragged about their victory on social media, and for good reason. America, for more than half of a century, has had the world’s strongest and most technologically advanced military.
Victorious! 🏆@RoyalMarines triumph in part of multinational team on Exercise Green Dagger 21. The 5-day Multi-domain war-fighting exercise concluded with an epic close quarters finale in Mojave Desert.
🇬🇧🇨🇦🇳🇱🇦🇪🇺🇸#StrongerTogether @USMC pic.twitter.com/MW0xzw0TBt— 40 Commando Royal Marines (@40commando) October 30, 2021
Good for the British — bad for the morale of a military which is currently being run by people who are too inept in their roles to set up competent American soldiers for success. The leadership of “woke” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley has arguably played a role in the weakening of America’s standing around the globe throughout this year.
Ironically, Milley delivered remarks just this week about what future conflicts might look like with Russian and Chinese leaders now stepping up to fill the vacuum created by a loss of American strategic and economic standing abroad.
During a forum on modern military challenges, Milley invoked “climate change,” China’s technological advances and the potential for Russian aggression.
The Pentagon reported in a news release, “Calling the Cold War a bipolar war between the Soviet Union and the United States, Milley said the nation is entering into a tripolar war with the United States, Russia and China all as great powers.”
The Defense Department then quoted Milley directly.
“As we look to the future and our operational environment, and as we see the operational environment changing in a fundamental way, we have got to take a hard look at how our military is organized — the way we fight, how we develop our talent and leadership, [and] the equipment that we have,” Milley said.
“On the one hand, you’ve got an issue with China or Russia, [and] you’ve got lesser regional challenges with North Korea and Iran, for example. Then, you’ve got terrorism, and we have to have many different capabilities in our inventory to deal with all of those simultaneously,” the general said.
Could the U.S. compete with the Russians and the Chinese, should a “tripolar” conflict turn hot? We can only hope so.
Defeat at the hands of the British, who are a worthy adversary and a great ally, might be a one-off in a simulation. But given the events of the last year with regard to this country’s military leadership, and its commander-in-chief, this is concerning.
Americans were on their home turf — California — and were essentially not competitive when facing the British.
This country’s military, to compare it to a college football team, should be like the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. No matter the opponent, America should dominate adversaries through brute strength, scheme, personnel and leadership — even when the game plan breaks down.
But as we’ve seen since the inauguration of President Joe Biden, and the appointment of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (not to mention, Milley’s continued presence), our leaders so often seem to have their attention directed toward things counterintuitive to the mission, which should always be dominating.
Critical race theory, gender madness, COVID vaccines and fear of “white rage” have all been at the forefront of the minds of our military leaders. In Kabul, the only thing these people could accomplish was to cut and run.
As former President Donald Trump said in August, everything woke turns to … well, you know the rest.
Let’s hope the next time American troops face off against an enemy on an actual battlefield, their leaders don’t fold like a cheap lawn chair. Poor leadership has already cost 13 service members their lives this year.