The United States has without a doubt the
most heavily armed population in the world, with firearms being a part of daily life for
many Americans. While in many nations the mere sight of a
gun is an extremely rare occurrence, in the US some studies say there are almost as many
guns as there are people, while others say there are more- what is known though is that
much like American income, the majority of guns are concentrated in the hands of a minority,
with 3% of gun owners owning half of all guns in the United States. With this much firepower available to the
citizens of America, does it really stand a chance against its own military? The US military needs no introduction, it
has the world's largest budget- more than the next seven competitors who are, in order:
China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, United Kingdom, India, France, and Japan. Of $1.6 trillion dollars spent on military
budgets around the world, the United States accounted for thirty seven percent of the
world total. All that spending goes to support the largest
military presence on earth, with American bases spread out across every continent except
Antarctica. Greatly mistrusted for its all-encompassing
reach, US national strategy is in fact to avoid another major war such as the two world
wars and the countless wars that rocked continental Europe for centuries. US forces are therefore pre-staged in potential
conflict zones where in conjunction with local allies, their presence alone is a deterrence
to violence. The results are hard to argue with, seeing
as there have been no wars between major industrialized powers since the end of World War II. The US may not necessarily field the best
technology in every department- for instance, the Russians have for long fielded more sophisticated
anti-air and electronic warfare weapon systems- but it does bring a unique capability that
no other nation matches: the ability to field advanced technology across the board, and
not just in select areas. This makes the American military a lethal
force against any modern adversary, and has historically forced its major political adversaries
to seek out niche strategies for holding the US at bay. Russia for instance has for decades focused
not on stopping a US offensive outright, but in denying it the air power that would lead
to a quick win. To this effect they have focused on anti-air
weapon systems to knock US planes and cruise missiles out of the sky, and advanced electronic
warfare systems to disrupt the networked abilities of American weapons. While China tries to slowly build a naval
presence capable of standing up to the US, it relies on a huge stockpile of ballistic
missiles to deter the American navy- in fact, China is the only major power in the world
to have an arm of the military dedicated solely to ballistic missiles. Yet while the US military has proven time
and again it dominates the modern battlefield, it has historically had the exact same troubles
that every other military has when it comes to fighting low-intensity counter-insurgency
wars. When denied the use of its overwhelming firepower
and technological advantages, the US military is in the same boat as any other nation's,
and must rely on low-tech, door-to-door action against insurgent forces who don't use heavy
equipment and don't wear uniforms. For all its military might, even the American
military has great difficulties in fighting an insurgency war. Should the American people ever rise up against
their own government, and that government authorize the use of military force against
its citizenry, the American insurgents will find themselves in an initially favorable
position against the American military. For starters, US forces are widely dispersed
around the world, meaning that unlike most nations, the least number of American combat
troops and equipment is present at home as compared to overseas. For the first few weeks of the war, the insurgents
will be able to carry out large scale operations that will become impossible once more and
more military equipment returns home. With the largest air and naval transport fleet
in the world, this initial tactical disadvantage the military will find itself in will quickly
be reversed. American insurgents could think themselves
safe from major retaliation, seeing as no country ever truly wants to destroy its own
infrastructure just to defeat an insurgency- let alone the world's richest nation who's
cities, highways, railways, and ports are vital arteries of global trade. Yet one of the US military's major tactical
advantages against foreign adversaries will prove just as deadly effective against an
insurgency. Smart weapon were first developed to take
out pieces of Soviet hardware from afar with pinpoint accuracy. The ability to strike a specific target from
hundreds of miles away was a major technological offset, and a capability that Cold War Soviet
military planners greatly feared. An inventory of networked American bombs and
weapon systems could decimate entire troop formations and camouflaged artillery positions
with ease, while Soviet planes would have to rely on traditional and very inaccurate
gravity bombs and unguided rockets to strike back with. Smart weapons eventually spread around the
world, but to date no other nation has as large a stockpile, or integration, as the
US. With the ability to strike at pinpoint targets
and avoid collateral damage, American insurgents will quickly find themselves prey even in
the heart of major cities. American surveillance assets are also amongst
the best in the world. Having a nearly 20-year insurgency war under
its belt, the American military has finely tuned itself for counter-insurgent operations,
and is today the leading counter-insurgency force in the world. Not only has it developed a slew of surveillance
technologies to better locate and disrupt insurgent operations hiding amidst a civilian
population, but more important, its troops are highly trained in conducting urban warfare
ops and the traditional fight for 'hearts and minds'. When the Soviets rolled into Afghanistan in
the 80s, it did so as the world's biggest military juggernaut and crushed all stand-up
opposition. However, within weeks the war shifted from
a conventional one to a counter-insurgency and war of attrition. The Soviets responded much in the Soviet way:
overwhelming firepower delivered very indiscriminately, and soon Soviet forces found themselves unable
to operate outside of heavily fortified positions. Any Soviet foray into the countryside would
have to be conducted with large amounts of manpower and heavy fire support, and often
it simply wasn't worth it. The Americans on the other hand initially
did much as the Soviets, wiping out major military opposition within a matter of weeks
with overwhelming firepower. However, it was here that they showed a better
aptitude for fighting an asymmetrical war against a non-conventional foe. Wherever American firepower went, it was followed
by major civil relief programs, with a focus on building infrastructure and restoring-
if not improving- the lives of the civilian population. Very quickly a complex system of diplomatic
agreements and alliances arose between US forces and the dozens of disparate groups
who all claimed some piece of Iraq or Afghanistan for themselves. Ultimately the effort would result in a half-won
victory of sorts, which was still light years ahead of the total defeat suffered by the
Soviets. Unfortunately the US's insistence on fighting
two insurgency wars simultaneously would force it to divide its assets, and ultimately result
in the mixed results we see today. Yet all the expertise, technology, and troop
experience gained from the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan would come into play
against the US insurgents- and this time the US military will find itself with major advantages
it lacked in the Middle East. For starters, it has home field advantage,
and its forces are no longer operating within a culture they don't understand very well. Cultural misunderstandings will be impossible,
and by understanding the American culture, the US military can better win the fight for
hearts and minds, turning many would-be insurgents from their path and garnering the support
of civilians who would have instead supported the insurgents instead. Secondly, it will be fighting to unite a nation
which actually wants to be united and has a national identity, making the process of
reestablishing a stable political system far easier than it was in the Middle East. Iraq had huge sectarian divisions that plagued
the country for decades, and were barely kept in check by an authoritarian strongman. Afghanistan was itself also only held together
by the very violent Taliban, who regularly used military power to enforce its grip over
the people. Without these authoritarian figures forcibly
uniting the nations together, Iraq and Afghanistan quickly fell to pieces that were very difficult
to put back together. Afghanistan would prove especially difficult,
as its people simply lacked the desire for national unity that nations in the West have
had for centuries. Americans however have a very strong sense
of national unity, and lack the sectarian differences and ideological conflicts that
would see the nation split up into a conglomerate of cabals in the case of national government
collapse. Sure, Democrats and Republicans may often
be eat each other's throats, but ultimately as national tragedy after national tragedy
has shown, the American people stand united. As the old adage goes, you're allowed to fight
with family and call them names, but if anyone else tries to hurt your family then you better
watch out. This sense of unity will make the job of counter-insurgency
far easier on American forces than it was in the middle east, and make it more difficult
for American insurgents to exploit a mistrust of the US military. Yet while American insurgents are out gunned
by the American military, they can take advantage of asymmetrical tactics to all but nullify
the US military's overwhelming firepower. By following the same play book as the Iraq
and Afghanistan insurgencies, American insurgents could force US troops into close-quarters
battles where they couldn't bring fire support such as air strikes or artillery bombardments
against them. American insurgents would also be able to
enjoy the advantage of fighting a near-total urban warfare campaign, given the size and
scope of US cities. As the first part of the 21st century has
proven, urban warfare is the great equalizer between military powers, as it denies most
of the technological advantages of a nation's military. Fighting instead is door-to-door and house-to-house,
carried out by individual squads of soldiers and little more than the rifles and gadgets
they can carry on their person. With the US military numbering at just over
one million, and with potentially millions of American insurgent forces, victory for
the US military will be all but impossible. A fight between the US military and US citizens
would be a dragged out affair that would likely last as long as the overseas insurgencies. It would be less a war of weapons and more
a war of words, with both sides trying to sway the majority of the population to its
side. It's likely that in such a war entire cities
would go rogue, with local city governments refusing to outright support the US military
or the insurgents, and simply wishing to be left out of the fighting. They would deny the military the right to
operate in its streets, but also not wish to support an insurgency which will bring
military action against it. Despite the huge glut of guns available to
American citizens, the truth is that there would be no major resupply effort courtesy
of an outside power. In the Middle East, Afghani and Iraqi insurgents
were kept well supplied by Iran, Russia, China, and Pakistan- amongst other actors- and trade
routes into the war zones often went through Pakistan who refused to allow US forces to
operate inside its borders and shut them down. In an American insurgency however, there would
be no neighboring power to supply the American insurgents, and the major trade routes into
the US through which arms supplied by a foreign power could enter would all be very easily
monitored and shut down by the US military. Within a year or two of heavy fighting the
American insurgency would find itself very low on ammo and very low on usable equipment. Yet the war would take a huge toll on the
American economy as well, which would in turn directly affect the budget of the US military. With major parts of the economy disrupted
by fighting or sabotage, the US military budget would rapidly shrink, and it would no longer
be able to afford to operate its vast fleets of modern equipment. In the end, a war of attrition would settle
in, and a winner is all but impossible to declare. It would come down to a sheer matter of will,
and which side would be willing to sacrifice the most to come out the ultimate victor. Yet as each side became more desperate, their
actions would lose them the support of the population they would rely on, and thus lose
the war for hearts and minds. Who do you think would actually win a war
between the US military and its citizens? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments, and as always
if you enjoyed this video don't forget to Like, Share, and Subscribe for more great
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This does not take into account that most of the military would turn to the other side.
Saw that a while back. It missed a lot of points in the people's favor. Probably deliberately.
That video is pretty ridiculous and glosses over or ignores many things that would play a factor.
Lots of troops would support the insurgency. Probably not all of them, but a lot of them.
The bullshit about the sense of unity. The left has all but obliterated the social fabric in the US. It's pretty funny to think that there's a huge sense of unity in the US right now. Don't believe me? Go look in the news. Eastern Oregon wants to join with Idaho. All of VA except northern VA and the cost want to join West VA. Non costal parts of CA want to form their own state. Texas and CA both have secession movements. Tons of people would relish the idea of going their own way if given a chance.
The US Military would have huge problems with supply and logistics. People that manufacture military hardware could potentially become insurgents themselves. The ones that don't could be targeted by insurgents. Manufacturing facilities will become targets. Supply lines will be long and vulnerable. Enormous resources will have to go into protecting supply lines.
Cities in the US rely on the redneck hicks they hate so much for all of their basic needs. Cutting the supplies off to any major city for more than a few weeks will cause absolute chaos. A large scale insurgency will absolutely seek to do this and it would be highly effective. Block off all the roads going into the city, cut the water and power and then watch the elites resort to cannibalism. Seattle and Portland are good examplea of this. Look at a map of WA, you'll see there's only a few routes over the Cascades and all of those routes go through very rough and highly defensible terrain.
There's probably more, but suffice to say that video is pretty ignorant overall.