46% of active troops believe there will be a major war within a year

Last year only 5% of the military believed that a major war was likely.
Things changed dramatically this year.

About 46 percent of troops who responded to the anonymous survey of currently serving Military Times readers said they believe the U.S. will be drawn into a new war within the next year. That’s a jarring increase from only about 5 percent who said the same thing in a similar poll conducted in September 2017.

American troop MT poll 1.png

Some services members believe that President Trump is contributing to the instability and fears. One soldier, a female Army sergeant first class based in Hawaii who asked to remain anonymous, said she’s has seen junior enlisted soldier opt to not re-enlist due to fears that a major war could erupt soon, and that Trump has made the chances of such a war more likely.

“I feel it has never been this bad and with this many adversaries, because of the way he [Trump] chooses to do business,” she told Military Times in a telephone interview.

She is afraid of a “constant conflict” occurring soon, of endless deployments and fighting.

“With the way we’re growing our force, I tell my soldiers the reason we are growing the force is because we need you, and we’re going to fight,” she said.

American toop MT poll 2.png

We've been pressuring Russia and China, but I believe that Iran is a much more likely target.
The place where this starts is in Syria.

“The president wants us in Syria until that and the other conditions are met,” Jeffrey told reporters Thursday, saying the U.S. withdrawal was also linked to achieving a lasting defeat of Islamic State militants.

Jeffrey spoke days after national security adviser John Bolton announced that the United States would not withdraw “as long as Iranian troops are outside Iranian borders,” for the first time tying the U.S. trajectory in Syria to challenging Iran.

It's important to understand that most of the "Iranian troops" in Syria are neither Iranian nor regular troops. They are largely shia militiamen and they are often from Iraq.
Which makes this article so significant.

The war in Iraq continues to bring together strange partners, and the latest odd couple may be the oddest of all. Particularly in Iraqi territory near Kurdish-held lands, the Popular Mobilization Forces—or the PMF, a collection of mostly Shiite militias—have started to join forces with some ex-Islamic State fighters.
...In interviews this month, several Iraqi government officials and activists confirmed the trend, attesting that the Badr Organization, one of the largest PMF militias, which operates in Iraq, has recruited about 30 such fighters in town of Jalaula alone. In addition, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, one of the most radical PMF groups, has recruited about 40 ex-Islamic State members in the same area, which is disputed between the Iraqi central government and the Kurds. “After Islamic State was defeated there in late 2014, local Islamic State members were not able to return to Jalaula,” Khalil Khudadad, a Kurdish official in the town, told us. They went to other cities where they joined the PMF, he continued, and now they’ve returned “wearing new uniforms.”

This is, of course, total and complete bullsh*t. The PMFs and ISIS are sworn enemies.
They are no more likely to work together than Saddam and al-Qaeda, but this is a great narrative if you want to start a war with Iran.

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mimi's picture

it is no wonder they think that way.

With women like her and men like the ones of the right-wing political mobsters club, it is no surprise.
[video:https://youtu.be/t1KuAnc8CCw]
Nikki Haley at the Council for National Policy

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Pricknick's picture

@mimi
When you have a duopoly, you have both.
R@D

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

mimi's picture

@Pricknick
I don't ask anymore. Why would it make a difference? Mob is mob.

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Pricknick's picture

@mimi
The United States Government is a mob.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Pricknick's picture

How many active duty, volunteer, enlisted read the military times? I'm not talking about those who enlist to the academies.
This shit is spooky!
Our armchair generals are spreading the word while our children obey the command.
We are truly fornicated.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

@Pricknick
Another reason why a war is coming

According to a recent National Association of Business Economists (NABE) survey, two-thirds of economists queried expect the onset of recession by the end of 2020.

More predictions

In a note first reported by Bloomberg, JPMorgan Chase & Co said the probability of the next financial crisis hitting the country in 2019 is currently at 28 percent. The likelihood increases to more than 60 percent over the next two years and 80 percent over the next three years, the bank stated.

The only thing the Trump Administration is good at (besides corruption) is distraction.

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TheOtherMaven's picture

@gjohnsit

while the Dimbulbs practice Reeling and Writhing and Fainting in Coils.

It's a Mad Hatter world out there.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Lily O Lady's picture

@Pricknick

waiting in the check-out line in any PX/BX.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

Song of the lark's picture

While I have no direct knowledge

"This is, of course, total and complete bullsh*t. The PMFs and ISIS are sworn enemies.
They are no more likely to work together than Saddam and al-Qaeda, but this is a great narrative if you want to start a war with Iran."

In fracture and collapse which is direct experience on many in Iraq a lot of strange things happen.

My old phrase "Oil runs everything." makes me think that any number of people, worn out soldiers from many places and battles in Iraq who have lost much and are not "cut in" on the massive oil revenue incoming could easily give up the religious fervor and get down to pragmatics.
Simple band of brothers singularity.

Collapse make strange bedfellows and much of the MENA district is in biophysical collapse due too resource grabs, war and climate change.

Watch for this to be replicated in Europe and the United States in the coming years. In fact projected out I wouldn't surprise me in 20 years to see the first world, China, Japan, Russia, United States, maybe India/Pakistan, (Nukes) and Euro Zone bound together against much of the rest of the world.
Grab MENA district resources and Africa maybe even fiefdom in So American and Central America.

There is a whole new world coming. Thermodynamic Collapse and Biophysical induced migration and violence will change the global interchange.

Only the brutal will survive. Many first world countries will be lucky to hold it together. Get ready for Fortress America.

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@Song of the lark
that believes that all Shias are apostates that deserve to die.

Unless I have a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation, there is no possible way that the shia militias (which are fanatics as well) would ever team up with ISIS.
I'd bet good money on this.

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That might make the middle eastern plan change - Trump will need the troops for invading Venezuela.
Poor Bo;ton, he'll never get to be The Butcher of Tehran. He'll have to settle for Caracas.

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On to Biden since 1973

travelerxxx's picture

@doh1304

I saw a headline today, roughly "Venezuela is off the dollar"

Yes, you are evidently correct. They are going to give it a try, anyway. I read a report of it at venezuelaanalysis.com a couple of days ago.

Venezuela is replacing the dollar with the euro or yuan, or "any tradeable currency" in its domestic business endeavors, Venezuela's Minister of Industries and National Production, Tareck El Aissami said Tuesday.

The moves follow steps taken this month by Russia, China, India, Turkey, and Japan to strengthen their national currencies by dropping US treasury holdings and promote exports in thier own currencies.

However, I wouldn't pity poor Bolton too much. I'm sure he'll find time for not only Iran but others as well. Perhaps a naval blockade of Venezuela will buy him a little time so he can slaughter a few hundred thousand in the Middle East. Anyone as evil as Bolton can find the time to go murder Venezuelans.

And to think that Bolton considered running for President in 2012 and again in 2016. Now he knows he didn't need to bother. There was an easier way to run the show...

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NonnyO's picture

She [anonymous soldier in HI] is afraid of a “constant conflict” occurring soon, of endless deployments and fighting.

“With the way we’re growing our force, I tell my soldiers the reason we are growing the force is because we need you, and we’re going to fight,” she said.

Spoken like a true sheeple who doesn't know how to lead, someone who has bought into the false notions of hyper-patriotism involved with fascist brainwashing.

Soldiers could, en masse, do the same thing as Lt. Ehren Watada when faced with a deployment to Iraq. Since the Nuremberg trials after WWII when it was determined that "I was only following orders" is not a just defense for committing war crimes, the UCMJ includes the information that military personnel (soldiers) have the right (obligation, actually) to refuse to perform illegal or immoral orders given by a senior officer. Soldiers have the right to refuse to participate in war crimes (obligation, even). The US presence in the Mideast has involved war crimes since the Afghanistan and Iraqi invasions, as well as the bombings Obama added, and which Trump is continuing (and adding intimidating threats to bomb other countries while he's at it).

One soldier can be ridiculed and called names (like Watada who was even jailed before he was put on trial). A whole company of soldiers refusing to commit war crimes (per the UCMJ) would pit moral and ethical military service members against the fanatical hyper-patriots that spew the nonsense we've heard since Dumbya talked an entire nation into invading Afghanistan first, then using the same illegal and unconstitutional AUMF authorization to invade Iraq for oil based on lies.

As for Nikki Haley and the Council for National Policy: Just because they want to commit suicide by nuclear war for their version of Armageddon doesn't give them the right to murder the rest of us by the same method (on top of disastrous climate change). They want to destroy the entire planet.... For what?!? How can they justify destroying the planet or making it unlivable for the rest of us if they're "pro-life?" Fucking hypocrites!!!

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I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute ..., where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference. — President John F. Kennedy, Houston, TX, 12 September 1960

lotlizard's picture

@NonnyO  
All the stuff that’s been marketed as Resistance™ since November 8, 2016? — not so much.

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