The U.S. Military Is a Trillion-Dollar Paper Tiger - Drones, Carriers, and Strategic Failure

The hosts interview retired U.S. Army officer and military historian Bill Buppert, fellow at the Libertarian Institute and host of the Chasing Ghosts podcast, about U.S. military shortcomings and strategic failures since 1945. Buppert argues the Pentagon fields expensive "exquisite platforms" that are unfit for 21st-century peer conflict, citing lost influence in the Middle East and Africa and recurring defeats or stalemates in Iraq and Afghanistan. He critiques procurement and consolidation after the 1993 "Last Supper," and highlights troubled systems including the Zumwalt, Littoral Combat Ship, Ford-class EMALS, aircraft carriers, and the F-35's low readiness rates. He emphasizes the revolution of cheap FPV/UAV warfare, salvo competition in air defense, depleted munitions stockpiles (including Stingers), limited U.S. homeland missile defense, and vulnerabilities such as container-launched drones. The conversation also covers Ukraine's prospects against Russia, NATO red lines, Iran's terrain and history, and the importance of considering moral injury in war.

00:00 Meet Bill Buppert

01:52 Paper Tiger Pentagon

04:56 Iraq War Blowback

06:24 Rakes and Stupidity

10:22 Bureaucracy and Budgets

12:05 Navy Procurement Fails

14:05 Carrier and EMALS Risks

18:49 Drones Change Warfare

24:13 Defense Industry Monopoly

27:20 Salvo Competition IAMD

31:46 Carriers vs China Math

36:28 F-35 Readiness Disaster

39:56 Homeland Missile Defense Limits

42:58 Smuggled Nukes and Drones

44:22 Homeland Attack Scenarios

46:06 Civil Defense Blind Spot

47:12 Empire Mindset and 9/11

48:25 Bring Policy Home

51:14 Bureaucracy and Defense Waste

53:07 Drones Change Warfare

54:43 Why COIN Fails

56:58 Ukraine Forecast and NATO

59:57 Iran Nukes and Regional Power

01:08:09 Homeschooling and Trades

01:11:29 Iran Terrain and History

01:14:12 Moral Injury and Farewell