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DOD may hope that strategy & operations will return to business as usual post-COVID. But the longer this pandemic continues -- and the more incompetent the US response -- the greater strain it will place on readiness, alliances, and even recruitment & retention. A few examples:1/
ALLIANCES & OVERSEAS BASING: Japan complains about US military COVID procedures at already-controversial Okinawa base:2/ https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/07/14/japan-us-military-coronavirus-policy-has-multiple-problems/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB%2007.15.20&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief
NUCLEAR WEAPONS: Big changes to the rotational schedules of the ICBM missileers, who switched from 1-day to 2-week stretches in underground silos:3/ https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2020-07-09/how-the-coronavirus-has-changed-americas-nuclear-missile-force
RECRUITMENT, RETENTION & READINESS: After initially banning anyone ever infected w/ COVID from joining, the military has since reversed & adopted case-by-case approach. But future waves of infection & long-term health effects will be with us for years:4/ https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/05/21/the-ban-on-covid-19-survivors-joining-up-has-lifted-but-some-cases-could-still-be-denied/
This is only the beginning. Just wait for declining defense budgets alongside strategic demands of a world in upheaval. The process of adaptation & planning needs to start now.5/5
