"Right now…

...we don't have the forces we need, we don't have them trained, we don't have the equipment."

Arnold Punaro, Chairman of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves

Less than 12% of Guard and Reserve units are mission ready. That's shameful, and dangerous.

Republicans did that. Republican politicians pursuing Republican policy goals. A Republican President with a Republican Congress. They've practically disarmed America.

And still the shameless bastards talk about national defense and security. Jeebus.

Hat tip to Turkana.

You think it's gotten better since last year?

It hasn't. Via TRex…

“I believe that we, as a nation, are at risk of mission failure should our Army be called to deploy to an emerging threat,” Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas, chairman of the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee, said last year, basing his assessment on classified Army readiness reports.

"Mission failure." Helluva a way to put "Can't defend our borders," isn't it?

Really. If, say, a division of Chinese infantry was airdropped onto the Pacific coast, our only real option would be to evacuate the civilian population and try to bomb the invaders into submission. Shock and awe on our own soil, as it were. (Of course, if San Francisco slid into the sea in the process some would even see it as a side benefit. Kind of like the Bushco™ urban renewal/voter relocation program down on the Delta.)

That's all we've got. Everything else is broken.

Have I mentioned lately that I hate what they've done to my Army?