Two reasons: 1️⃣ using the military for domestic law enforcement is a political red line that will set off much broader blowback, and 2️⃣ there aren't enough personnel and munitions even with the military
Comments
Log in with your Bluesky account to leave a comment
There is a lot of analysis of how effective calling in the Marines in 1992 was in the end and most reviews are still mixed. We have some military groups that are better trained in urban warfare than we did then but even in CA members of the general public are better armed.
I imagine that it would be difficult to coordinate federal law enforcement with the US Military much less make sure they were coordinated with local law enforcement so it would be a mess.
Re: the blowback That assumes facts not in evidence. Re: the capacity of the most powerful military in the world - I have to trust you. I doubt you but I’m gonna trust you bc I know nothing. Also tho: everyone in LA or anywhere else will not be on the same side of the fight.
There are about 2.5 million people in the US military, including active duty, reserves, & National Guard. But that's ALL personnel. The US military's tooth-to-tail ratio is somewhere between 1:6 and 1:10, meaning only somewhere between 10% and 17% of those are actual COMBAT personnel.
If we assume it's all the way up at 17% (which it's not), that's 425,000 total people who are actually experienced at things like flying planes and shooting guns. That's a lot of people, but it's a whoooooole lot less than you'd need to maintain martial law in the whole US (340 million people).
also, even assuming that 425K is the number available, there is almost no chance that they will all accept an order to fire on civilian populations in their own country
as silly as nationalism like this might be to you and I, U.S. soldiers don’t generally sign up for that kind of thing
I used to think I knew stuff but I stopped thinking so after 2016. The military sides with a dictator? Sure, why not? I haven’t thought “It couldn’t happen here” for a long time.
I'd bet at least half of them won't, yeah. Plus, a lot of them are stationed elsewhere for things that are ALSO important to the government. And redeployments take TIME.
And all of that is assuming that you could get the whole military on board, which is unlikely; some folks are not going to be down for shooting at Americans. And unless you want to bomb your own cities, most of the Air Force folks are gonna be useless. The numbers aren't as big as they look on paper
The Navy is also not gonna be super helpful unless, again, you want to hammer things into shrapnel. They can do a certain amount of logistical support, of course, but Paramount CA is not really a naval power.
Modern militaries, for better and worse, are full of *specialists*. They're trained very heavily to drive a couple specific vehicles, or fly a couple specific planes, or shoot a couple specific guns. They CAN drive/fly/shoot other stuff, ofc, but they're not superpowered.
If you put them in situations that they're not trained for, they're not magically going to become able to pacify a large angry population that many of them are probably pretty hesitant to shoot at ANYWAY!
Counterinsurgency doctrine has advanced quite a bit since Vietnam and even Iraq/Afghanistan – but improvements in doctrine can't make up for the constrained theater. They're not going to bomb skyscrapers or open fire on civilians unchecked
I hope you’re right. I also hope ppl don’t get hurt. If nobody or even a fair percentage of nobody went to work on Monday, they’d be safe and the country would shut down. It’s a silly dream but it’s better than what’s happening.
Comments
as silly as nationalism like this might be to you and I, U.S. soldiers don’t generally sign up for that kind of thing
And protest tactics have advanced quite a bit too