No greater representation of a bloated military that’s too fat to even tie its own boots.
Even though there’s no such rank as “four star general or admiral” (those who wear four stars are simply “general” or “admiral”), I’ll use this phrase just to simplify the specific stats I’m going to cite.
One other provision… as much as I hate to do it, I’m going to cite Wikipedia as my sources. Whoever did these specific reports, they properly cite legitimate and accurate sources.
But back to the main topic. As of now, America’s active duty and reserve strength stands at 2,127,500. This is the least number of troops America has had since the opening days of WWII.
Now get ready for this. Across the board, present day, there are 44 generals and admirals (popularly known as “four-stars”) within the United States armed forces (including Coast Guard and also vacant positions at this moment in time).
There are no “five-stars” in the armed forces as of now, nor have there been any for decades.
In 1945 (last year of World War II), a mere 17 held the rank of either General of the Army (five-stars) or as general (four-stars) for both the US Army and the US Army Air Force.
For the US Navy (to include one Marine and one Coast Guard, but excluding one posthumous promotion), there were a total of 17 holding the rank of either Fleet admiral (five stars) or as admiral/general (four-stars).
Interesting that during the last year of WWII, there were just 34 five- AND four-star officers total. Currently here in 2024, a whopping 44.
Just FYI, during WWII, the American armed forces was slightly more than 12 million.
To perhaps hammer home my damning of so many stars lording over so few stripes, I just read a quote from then-BGen Melvin Carter, USMC, (currently a LtGen) whose full title was Deputy Chief of Computer Networks Operation at the National Security Agency.
Really? It takes a general-grade officer to be in charge of the computer repair guys at the NSA?
For what it’s worth, LtGen Carter wears a total of 16 personal awards. None of them are for personal heroism in combat, but for peacetime service.
Take this however one may, below are photos of the first Marine four star, Gen. AA Vandegrift and the current Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. EM Smith.
Of Gen. Vandegrift’s 24 medals and ribbons, only one was for peacetime service. All the rest were for personal heroism in combat (to include the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross), along with various unit, campaign, and foreign awards.
Of Gen. Smith’s 43 awards, he wears the Bronze Star w/ combat V, and a Purple Heart for wounds received. He also sports 10 personal medals for peacetime service.
He also wears a number of decorations that were essentially made-up in recent years, such as the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon (AKA: “Thanks for going overseas” ribbon) and the Recruiter Duty Ribbon (AKA: “A constant reminder that you were once on recruiting duty” ribbon).
On a personal note, it was in the 1980s that the Marine Corps got onboard with the army and the navy in watering down current awards, then dreaming up all new decorations because of so many bare-chested Marines. Keep in mind that when we left Vietnam back in 1973,
As Gen. Vandegrift once boldly told the US Congress back in 1947, “A bended knee is not a tradition of our Corps.”
Sorry, General. The current crop of Marine Corps “leaders” have kowtowed to the sissification of the Marine Corps a long time ago.
Suffice it to say that both the officer and senior enlisted “leadership” at Headquarters Marine Corps have been on their knees longer than Kamala Harris.