While the United States military strives to present itself in a shining manner of respect and loyalty, veteran soldier Dennis Laich says that is not always the case.
Laich, a retired major general, spoke on the military and defense technology at the second event for the annual Great Decisions Discussion Series Friday, Feb. 28 at the William Street Methodist Church.
During his presentation, Laich shared the perspectives he gained throughout his years of service.
He touched on some of the principles standard to the U.S. military, as well as taking time to emphasize the financial impact these actions have had.
Shock and awe is the branding of new military technology in the U.S., according to Laich, and the benefits are obvious.
However, he feels that the negatives which come alongside have been mostly pushed to the side.
“After each new technology advancement, our enemies have the opportunity to replicate it or create their own countermeasure,” Laich said.
“The most prominent example of this is the atomic bomb, which was quickly replicated and played a major part in the build up to the Cold War.”
He continued on to show the recent increase in influence of the military-industrial complex.
Laich said he believes that this complex is one of the major driving forces behind military decisions, a belief he backed up with tangible evidence.
He cited the stock jumps in companies such as Boeing, Lockheed, United Technologies and Halliburton, who have seen rises of 218 percent to a whopping 1000 percent since 2002.
“When we first started sending troops into Iraq, if the government had reinstituted a lottery draft, added a war surtax or did both, how long do you think we would have stayed there?” Laich asked the audience.
In addressing questions from the audience, he pointed out current flaws in military operations.
Citing Thomas Jefferson’s quote that “dissent is the highest form of patriotism” Laich said “there are not many senior leaders with my mindset. They can be stubborn, but must be made aware that such an expensive, all volunteer military force can’t be sustained for much longer.”
Laich said the United States is currently one of the top world powers, with the largest and most capable military in the world. Because of that, he said, we must be careful in order for the status quo to continue.
“The U.S. defense budget is larger than the next 14 nations combined and our last two wars that cost us $1.5 trillion we paid for with credit,” Laich pointed out. “This pace of growth is something that we can’t sustain in the long term.”
With involvement from the crowd of local Delawareans, Laich went through the country’s history of military combat since World War II.
He invited the audience to “think of our military like a football team, with each conflict as a game that ended with a win, loss, or tie.
“Now take the major wars we have been involved in and think of these as conference games.”
By the end of the activity, Laich’s point rang clear throughout the audience. The U.S. military ‘football’ team had an overall record of three wins, five loses and three ties, with a conference record of one win, two losses and two ties.
“The record speaks for itself, if you were the owner of this team, would you keep the head coach around?” Laich asked.
While at first it may seem cynical, Laich has made it clear that this skepticism is just what our military needs.