Looking at the execrable performance of and the astonishing amount of money spent on the US military over generations, the first word that comes to mind is just not "competence".

I mean, at least $20 trillion have been spent on wars in just my lifespan, and probably a lot more, and for what? A series of ignominious defeats and war crimes!

And what we see is the same mistakes over and over and over again from the Pentaton: completely unrealistic, fantastical planning, and witch hunts for anyone who tries to say otherwise; apparent lack of interest in basic facts necessary to a successful invasion like local geography, languages, customs, religions or habits; pathologically poor communication both laterally and vertically; and, it is my belief, trillions of dollars profiteered and outright stolen from the Pentagon through fraudulent procurement and other criminal means.

The Pentagon has never come close to passing any sort of audit. The last attempt to audit the Pentagon cost $400 million and failed. Only the most naïve person would believe that, knowing for decades that they were completely unwatched, greedy criminals haven't been taking advantage of this to loot the system.

If you're claiming that it's the fault of both Republican and Democratic leadership and the Pentagon, and the troops are fine, I suppose that's possible, though usually generationally corrupt organizations aren't very good at producing competence, because they're thoroughly corrupt.

But overall, "the US military" in terms of its results has completely failed and really doesn't deserve any respect.

I'd add that a lot of the reason that idiot kids sign up to join the military is because of the idea of respect, when in fact they're signing up to at the very least be supporting a vast killing and polluting force.

If they understood they were joining "the gang that couldn't shoot straight", maybe they'd stay at home.