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Zachary Simbajon

Mr. Donald

Writing for College

25 January 2018

Green Camo For Green Paper

The U.S.Government spends billions of dollars into the military and has the largest

military budget in the world. But why? The U.S. has the most strongest and most advanced

military in the world. When it comes to its aircrafts, tanks, infantry weapons, ships, and nuclear

weapons. The U.S. is number one. However being a formidable world power comes at a

significant expense.

Reign Salam​ is an associate editor at The Atlantic, previously a producer for NBC News,

a junior editor and editorial researcher at The New York Times, a research associate at the

Council on Foreign Relations, and a reporter-researcher at The New Republic. He says,

“The point of investing in a more capable military is not to topple foreign governments at

the drop of a hat, or to recklessly enmesh U.S. forces in conflicts that will have no

meaningful impact on U.S. national interests.”

He also states,

“The other thing we expect of our military is that it be able to protect not just the U.S.

homeland, but also our allies around the world. The United States is pledged to defend

every other NATO member state if they’re ever under attack.”

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In these two quotes​ ​Reign Salam explains how the US’s spending on military is a necessity. The

United States has an enormous military budget because it needs an effective armed forces to

safeguard other countries and its interests around the world. Most countries in Europe and Asia

depend on the military might of the United States to secure them from any opposing country that

poses a threat. ​The support the U.S. provides to the other countries such as Japan, Germany and

South Korea comes from U.S. military bases in those countries, and the added cost of that is

difficult to quantify. According to Business Insider The United States spends over 156 billion

dollars or more on maintaining those bases and increasing the United States’ armed forces’

presence around the world. Granted by Former Secretary of the Air Force Townsend Hoopes,

increasing the U.S.presence around the globe is a strategy by the United States which will put

pressure on China and Russia.

The U.S. is receiving threats from Chinese expansionism, Russian aggression, North

Korean nuclear threats, and Islamic terrorism. This is enough for the U.S. to build up its military

so it can take action when it is necessary. Protecting the homeland is one thing, but the U.S. is

also obligated to protect its allies. That’s not cheap to do. In order to beef up the military and to

continue to protect its allies from the growing threats the U.S. needs to continue to spend the way

it does currently on military. Because the U.S. needs every advantage it can get. Whether it be in

technology development or repairs and maintenance, at the end it will benefit the United States

and her allies abroad.

There are great benefits and also great risks to keeping U.S. troops and bases abroad. The

risks include being vulnerable to attack from adversaries in the region, and facing some
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uncertainty to accessing military facilities in a times of conflict. Although there are some risks in

having U.S.military bases around the world. However, there are great benefits that come with it

as well. Among those benefits include deterrence to U.S. adversaries such as the Middle East

where radical islamic terrorist groups terrorize the region. The benefits also include assurance to

allies, which influences allies’ strategic decisions, improved operational response and improved

knowledge of cultural differences and foreign military operations like how the U.S. is currently

doing in Iraq and Afghanistan in order to connect with the local people.

From the dawn of mankind, humanity has strived to evolve their technology to protect

what is rightfully theirs and conquer their adversaries. Stones became sharper stones, sharper

stones became swords, swords became crossbows, crossbows became muskets, and so on. With

these new advancements humanity has made weapons progressively more deadly. This is not to

say that advancing military weapons are cheap, but the people of the United States can benefit

from these things because it is used to protect them.

A great example of where technology has sparked would be any war in United States

history such as the Vietnam War, Korean War, the Civil War,World War II. The deadliest war in

human history. World War II has brought the need to create better weapons such as faster and

more efficient fighters, bombers, and U.S. troops were outfitted with the most effective gear at

the time. The date is October 9, 1941 ​President Franklin D. Roosevelt gives the go-ahead for the

development of an atomic weapon thus officially kicking off the Manhattan Project. The

development of the atomic bomb and the dropping of the atomic bomb brought in a new age of

costly and more fatal weapons. The necessity to continually strengthen and evolve the military’s
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technological capabilities is extremely high. Especially in the current age of cyber warfare where

foreign adversaries like North Korea, China, Russia, and many others may have the ability to

hack the United States. ​Michele Flournoy from the Washington Post says,

“The bulk of any additional defense investment must focus on maintaining and extending

our technological and warfighting edge, including in cyber, electronic and anti-submarine

arenas, unmanned systems, automation, long-range striking and protected

communications.”

In this quote Michele Flournoy explains that the United States should have an increase in

military spending. However, she says that it depends on what the U.S. should spend it on. The

US military should always have an edge technologically. Meaning that the United States should

spend mostly on “cyber, electronic and anti-submarine arenas, unmanned systems, automation,

long-range striking and protected communications.” This is something that both sides of the

spectrum can agree with because being the world’s most powerful military, other countries are

going to ask for the U.S. protection. The U.S. needs as much advantage as it can get against her

enemies abroad. Especially technologically.

One major thing is cyberwarfare. In this current age wars are not only being fought

physically, but they are mostly fought online. It's really hard to gauge as most nations aren't

acknowledging they're doing any sort of cyber warfare development yet. In most of the first

world countries, It’s to be sure that huge amounts of money, time, manpower, etc. are being

dedicated to both offense and defense. In the United States there is extremely large amounts of
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money going into programs that feed into the notion of the Cyber Corps in the form of

scholarships, research grants, recruiting efforts, and so on.

Military vehicles have become more and more expensive and costly as the U.S. discovers

new technologies to gain every advantage that it can get against its enemies. One being the most

F-35 Lightning III. According to the Lockheed Martin website detailing the F-35 the website

states:

“The F-35 is designed with the entire battlespace in mind, bringing new flexibility and

capability to the United States and its allies. Reliance on any single capability —

electronic attack, stealth, etc. — is not sufficient for success and survivability in the

future. Missions traditionally performed by specialized aircraft — air-to-air combat,

air-to-ground strikes, electronic attack, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance —

can now be executed by a squadron of F-35s.”

This sleek aircraft is capable of highly ​advanced stealth abilities, electronic attack, air to surface

combat, surface to air combat, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and many more. This

makes it a highly efficient tool for war. The F-35 lightning III specializes in more than only

stealth capabilities and in this current age of war where having just stealth capabilities or just

effective combat or reconnaissance capabilities is not enough so an aircraft that has it all can be

very useful as said by General Mike Hostage who was the former commander for the Air

Combat Command of the U.S. Air Force:

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“People think stealth is what defines 5th [Generation aircraft]. It’s not the only thing. It’s

stealth and then the avionics and the fusion of avionics."

But again, efficiency comes with a price, and that’s true for mostly anything. The cost to develop

the F-35 over the past 14 years is an impressive 1.5 trillion dollars! But that does not include

manufacturing. A single F-35 fighter jet costs a whopping amount of $148 million. One Marine

Corps F-35B costs an unbelievable $251 million. A lone Navy F-35C costs a mind-boggling

$337 million.

With that being said, yes, technologically advancing the U.S. military is expensive and no

one is denying that. It actually always has been. From the invention to the cannon and musket all

the way to present day with the F-35 fighter. Upgrading something no matter what it is always

costed more than the predecessor. The thing is, is that the U.S.’s new founded technology for the

military never goes in vain and it has always helped and benefited the country defense wise. Like

how the development of the atomic bomb and the dropping of the atomic bomb brought an end

to World War II and actually saving thousands to even millions more lives compared to the other

option of the United States and other allies invading mainland Japan. Another example would be

military drones such as the MQ-9 Reaper. This new piece of military technology has allowed the

United States to eliminate high ranking ISIS terrorists and other groups in the Middle East

without any casualties on its side. New tech is extremely important for the United States military

because it needs to gain every advantage against her adversaries in order to protect our troops

and the free world.

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Works Cited

Clark, Colin. “F-35 Total Costs Soar to $1.5 Trillion; Lockheed Defends Program.” Breaking

Defense.com, 30 Mar. 2012, 5:45 pm,

breakingdefense.com/2012/03/f-35-total-costs-soar-to-1-5-trillion-lockheed-defends-program/.

“F-35 Fast Facts.” f35.Com, Lockheed Martin, www.f35.com/about/capabilities.

Flournoy, Michèle. “Opinion | Trump Is Right to Spend More on Defense. Here's How to Do so

Wisely.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 1 Mar. 2017,

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-is-right-to-spend-more-on-defense-heres-how​-

Hoopes, Townsend. “Overseas Bases in American Strategy.” Foreign Affairs, Council on

Foreign Relations, 11 Oct. 2011,

Robertson, Lori. “U.S. Foreign Military Support.” FactCheck.org, 20 Apr. 2016,

Salam, Reihan. “The United States Doesn’t Spend Enough on Its Military.” Slate Magazine, 12

Nov. 2015,