{"id":26515,"date":"2021-11-02T16:43:48","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T16:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/11\/02\/will-the-us-be-begging-on-bragg-boulevard-again\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:14:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:14:51","slug":"will-the-us-be-begging-on-bragg-boulevard-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2021\/11\/02\/will-the-us-be-begging-on-bragg-boulevard-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the US be begging on Bragg Boulevard again?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My 1980 high school yearbook was a sign of the times. Inside was a picture of a massive billboard opposite the home of the 82nd Airborne Division on Fort Bragg Boulevard. Its message encapsulated the legacy of the Jimmy Carter presidency: \u201cIran, Let Our People Go.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is what we had become: a mendicant begging Tehran\u2019s theocratic fanatics to release American diplomats and soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1970s, the world assumed the United States was on an inevitable decline riven by problems at home and indecisiveness abroad. The Soviets invaded Afghanistan, and Cuban proxies were rampaging through southern Africa. The defense budget tanked. There was no fuel for vehicles and no money for training, and the carriers were stuck in port. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Carter years have returned with a vengeance. It did not take the Biden administration long to signal American weakness. With China continuing its massive military modernization program and increasingly threatening its neighbors, the administration opted to open the government spending spigot, while defense and homeland security were set to receive a few extra droplets<\/a>. In case any world leader failed to pick up on that clue, the administration followed with the debacle in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In underfunding the Pentagon, Biden has stolen a page not just from President Jimmy Carter but from the Obama playbook, too. During the Obama administration, ships and crews were worn out, several Air Force fighter squadrons were grounded due to lack of funding<\/a>, and bureaucratic initiatives arrested the development of a generation of promising sailors and pilots. Future systems were also put on hold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the return of Carter-era inflation, President Joe Biden\u2019s defense spending<\/a> remains anemic compared to the multiple great power threats we face. The Pentagon was already projecting an inflation rate of 2.2 percent<\/a> before inflation kicked into gear, with the Federal Reserve now predicting a 4.2 percent<\/a> annual rate for 2021. The Biden administration requested a 1.6 percent increase<\/a> to the defense budget. <\/p>\n\n\n\t