Counting the Pieces: Defense Spending and the “Ever Shrinking Fighting Force”

The Asia Chessboard

This week, Mike sits down with Major General Arnold L. Punaro (USMC ret.), Chief Executive Officer of the Punaro Group, to discuss his new book, The Ever-Shrinking Fighting Force, which covers the history of U.S. defense spending and why the number of warfighters is declining despite budget increases. Mike and Maj. Gen. Punaro start off by analyzing the defense budget process and lay out three reasons why the U.S. military is not getting “enough bang for its buck,” to include the acquisition process, the cost of an all-volunteer force, and a massive overhead. Drawing from his experience working in Congress, Maj. Gen. Punaro dives deeper into the politics of defense spending and its impact on the Indo-Pacific region. Lastly, the two touch on the war in Ukraine and constraints on U.S. capacity to operate on multiple fronts.