My Vision for a 21st Century Military: South Carolina Has a Big Role to Play

Over the last seven years, the world has grown more dangerous while our military has endured indiscriminate defense cuts. Almost 10,000 American troops are still in harm’s way in Afghanistan and another 3,600 have returned to Iraq. Meanwhile the threats to our nation from ISIS, Iran, Russia, China, and North Korea, among others, have continued to multiply.

But as the dangers to our nation have increased, our military has been cut by nearly a trillion dollars over a decade. Because our men and women in uniform have been asked to do more with less, the forces we have are not ready to fight. Just one-third of Army brigade combat teams and less than half of Air Force fighter squadrons are fully combat ready, and the Navy has only one-third of the carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups that it needs to respond to a crisis within 30 days.

We cannot survive the global perils of the 21st century with a military built for the 20th. Yet under President Obama, that is exactly what bad policymaking and a badly strained defense budget are forcing us to attempt. If we are to protect our national security, we simply cannot afford another four years like the last seven.

As Commander-in-Chief, I will restore American strength and give our armed forces the training and equipment they need to meet the threats they will face and, should efforts to deter conflict fail, make sure that our men and women in uniform go into battle with every advantage possible.

Restoring American strength begins with a defense budget for a modern national defense. I will heed the recommendation of the bipartisan National Defense Panel and return as soon as possible to the forward-thinking, strategy-driven, fiscally sustainable budget baseline proposed by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in 2011 before the senseless budget cuts that are now crippling our military.

These additional defense dollars will be prioritized to address critical readiness shortfalls, fix training and maintenance backlogs, and ensure that our troops are ready to deploy rapidly. Then I will set out to modernize our forces.

I will strengthen our ground forces by restoring the Marine Corps to an active-duty end-strength of 182,000 and the Army to 490,000. This will reverse cuts that are taking the Army toward pre-World War II levels and allow us to take common-sense measures like stationing more troops in Europe to deter Russian aggression.

I will recapitalize our Navy and increase the size of our fleet to a minimum of 323 ships by 2024, reversing cuts that have slashed our fleet to its smallest size since World War I. Because a major part of this effort must be to ensure a large and modern U.S. submarine fleet, I will order at least two Virginia-class submarines to be built each year.

South Carolina has an important role to play in this process. The Navy’s Nuclear Power School, located just outside of Charleston, helps train the next generation of officers and enlisted sailors to operate many of the vanguard ships in our fleet. In all, defense spending accounted for more than $6 billion in economic activity in South Carolina in 2014. That’s $1,262 per resident. A strong defense industrial base is essential to both our national security and our local economies, and that is why I will oppose another round of base realignment and closure, or BRAC, which threatens vital military installations in South Carolina and across the country.

Finally, I will modernize our Air Force by accelerating fighter procurement and fully supporting the development of a next-generation bomber. This effort will recapitalize an Air Force that has the smallest and oldest combat force in its history. I will also ensure that America preserves its robust aerial refueling capabilities with the procurement of the KC-46A tanker aircraft, and stop the Obama administration’s reckless proposed cuts to nuclear weapons.

I am running for president to make the 21st Century another American Century. That will require restoring American military strength — the underpinning of our security and prosperity.

South Carolina long has made a vital contribution to our defense and when I am president it will continue to help ensure that Americans are safe and free.