How the US military should be reformed

This is how I have always thought the US military should be reformed.

#1 - The Army should be abolished and merged with the national guard. The national guard members owe both allegiance to the nation and their homestate, which is why every national guard member is also apart of the state militia. The national guard acts as a reserve force. Citizens maintain in the workforce in the national guard, but they also receive continuous military training and agree to protect the nation in times of crisis when called on by the people's congress and/or state governor. For these reasons, and the fact that the United States is even closed to being threatened from any armed force in the world, merging the army with the National Guard is a better alternative.

#2 - The Marines would stay a branch in the military, and would have their funding increased with a portion of the budget from the former US army. US marines have always been on the forefront of every major war the US has fought, and despite being a fraction of the size of the army, they have seen more combat and have more infamy in combat for their victories. The US marines show that a small foreign expeditionary force with a small administrative command is superior and more effective at fighting overseas than the US army which is often faced with logistical problems and a ridiculously large command chain. Increasing the number of marines would still be required, as seen by the amount of troops it took to secure a lodgement in Iraq, and the amount of troops died taking a beachhead in Guyana. In my opinion, establishing lodgements is the only reason the US army still exists.

#3 - The Navy has always been the strongarm of US power, so it should remain a branch. Unstoppable and advanced, with the help of the airforce, there is not a battle the US navy could not win. Navies are good at restricting trade, freeing trade, and strategically bombarding targets from the relative safety of the water. Navies also help reduce casualties in war. The Spanish American War and WWII would have resulted in a lot more casualties if combat was predominantly fought on the ground.

#4 - The US navy needs to stop producing 30 different models of ships. It is insanely stupid to have four types of destroyers, four types of aircraft carriers, ect. The US should work on producing 8 specialized naval classes for each type of ship. This saves more money, and makes administration of a fleet a hell of a lot easier.

#5 - The Airforce is what used to win and lose wars, but it is a lot different now. While trying to bomb any reasonably defensable nation, the airforce will be slaughtered everytime though. AA guns and interceptor technology is so advanced, which is why you do not see the US sending its airforce to Syria or other nations currently in turmoil. The loyalist airforce in Syria is capable of shooting down 100's of planes each year while only losing a couple themselves, despite fighting for control of the skies against larger and more advanced airforces such as Israel. This is mostly the result of how easy it is to defend a slab of land with a couple of AA cannons. I am not saying the Airforce should be abolished, but it should be reduced significantly to reflect the reality of air warfare today.

#6 - Same as the navy, the airforce should reduce their production of aircraft into a couple of select and flexible models. I also think that the heavy armor of US aircraft gives them a disadvantage against the lighter aircraft in other nations. A US plane is harder to shoot down, but this comes at the price of making it harder to shoot other planes down.

#7- The US needs to take a hint from Russia. If US nationals want to go to another country and fight in other countries wars, then we should let them. Restricting organizations that try to send Americans to die by their own free will seems oppressive and counter-productive .

Any thoughts? Any disagreements? Any agreements?

Blackflag: I'd suggest an increase in special and elite forces. These could be used for secret operations. Also, the increase in intelligence would be nice, to benefit current technology in the military. The nuclear race is always important, but more powerful and efficient weapons could be pursued.

But most importantly, relations need to be improved with China to prevent war. If we can be on exceptional terms with China, Russia's thoughts of war would be gone.

they need to stop funding the damn military billions and cut a half from all the military factions and fund the nasa, space X and other space related stuff

Pazzeri: Space x is a private company. Why should we start funding corporate interests bbn instead of letting g the market do it like normal?