Thoughts on the u. S. Military. We have special lines for this question. If you are an active member of the military, call 202 7488000. If you are a retired military service member, call 202 7488001. All others can call 202 7488002. You can also reach us on social media. On twitter at cspanwj. And on facebook at facebook. Com cspan. Good morning. Lets start by taking a look at what the president said earlier this month about the state of the u. S. Military during his comments about his National Security strategy. [video clip] dealt isis one devastating defeat after another. The coalition to defeat isis has now recaptured almost 100 of the land once held by these terrorists in iraq and syria. Great job. [applause] really good. Really good. Thank you. Thank you. We have a great military. We are now chasing them wherever they fully. And we will not let them into the United States. In afghanistan, our troops are no longer undermined by artificial timelines. And we no longer tell our enemies of our plans. We are beginning to see results on the battlefield. And we have made clear to pakistan that, while we desire continued partnership, we must see Decisive Action against terrorist groups operating on their territory. And we make massive payments every year to pakistan. They have to help. Our efforts to strengthen the Nato Alliance set the stage for significant increases in member contributions, with tens of billions of dollars more pouring in, because i would not allow Member States to be delinquent in the payment while we guarantee their safety and are willing to fight wars for them. We have made clear that countries that are immensely wealthy should reimburse the United States for the cost of defending them. This is a major departure from the past, but a fair and necessary one. For our country, necessary for our taxpayer, necessary for our own thought process. Host we are talking to you this morning, getting your thoughts about the state of the u. S. Military. If you are an active member of the military, call 202 7488000. Militarye a retired service member, call 202 7488001. All others can call 202 7488002. Lets take a look at one of the headlines from dod news, where secretary mattis said operations to fight isis will change in 2018. It says the distraction of the Islamic State of iraq and syrias physical caliphate will change the way the coalition will go after the terror group. Defense secretary james mattis told pentagon reporters yesterday. Operators against the terror group dominated the informal press gaggle with the secretary. He said we sit here today at the end of 2017, the caliphate is on the run, we are breaking them. Summarizes terrorists escaped the encirclement of raqqa into the middle Euphrates River valley. We are in the process of crushing the life out of the caliphate there while trying to keep the innocent people safe, which is very hard with this group, he said. The story goes on to also point out the fact that secretary mattis said, as a brand, isis is losing. Mattis to 2018, matus sees isis being a brand for terrorists, inspiring lone wolf attacks, but it is less inspirational when they have lost their physical caliphate. Less inspirational as the stories of what it was like living under their rule came out. I think it is a brand with a diminishing appeal, but the appeal is still there for groups who go in for that philosophy. Callingon the line, from new jersey. Good morning. Caller good morning. My comment about isis i do not understand why they always say we are winning, when it seems like tim to me, they are just relocating. Seee were winning, we would them taking bodies off of the field, or we could see our troops coming back in caskets. They dont never sure how many isis people are dead or how many leaders they captured. Yet still, trump keeps coming on, talking about we winning and this and that. I wish some of these republicans would call in and explain that to me. I really do not understand that. Thank you. Host ok. In one of the other headlines we have today about that fight against isis, saying there is a dwindling number of isis fighters remaining in syria and iraq, according to military. Com. Only 1000 isis fighters remain in syria and iraq. It says with Islamic State extremis thrust out of their two major strongholds and key tactical victories this year, fighters remaining in the region continued to fall. According to new estimates from the combined joint Task Force Operation and have resolved. Army colonel ryan dillon, a spokesperson for the tax force antask force, said in interview that the official estimate of isis presence has been revised downward by a significant number. Up until today, we had an estimate of less than 3000, dillon said thursday. But the latest estimate we got today was, there is about 1000 across iraq and syria. A retired ranch of the military, daniel calling which branch . The navy. Thank you for taking my call. I am very shocked that obama allowed our Naval Air Forces to become so degraded that they ,ave to get parts from planes like a junkyard. It is shocking that Service People have to grovel for parts so that they can fight for their lives. What a horrible thing that man has done to our country. Think the president may be the greatest president we have ever had since andrew jackson. Host what more would you like to see . What do you think is the solution to the strain on the naval fleet . Caller you cannot send a soldier out to battle and not give him a gun. How do you put a pilot in the air and not give them an aircraft to fly, or give them junk to fly . Would you fly on an airplane that has no seat . Would you do that as a civilian . Would you fly on an airplane that has broken parts on it and salvaged parts . Beyond words. I am so shocked that obama let our navy of forces get to that level let our navy care navy air forces get to that level of degradation. Host lets see what senator angus king said about the uss john mccain. Caller every boat has a radar that [video clip] every boat has a radar that lets you know when another bow comes within five miles or two miles how does a billiondollar freighter not know that a boat is coming up on it . Maine lobster men they can tell when there is a flock of seagulls off there bow. Got the same questions. It is very hard to understand. With the sophisticated systems on board this warship, that we let it should get close enough coalition of not one ship. Three ships. Arent there can you give me a system answer specifically . Arent there radars . There are primary and backup radars. We have to find out what happened. Is there a black box on the ships, like there is on an aircraft, so we can determine what the sequence of events was . We will get to the sequence of events, yes, sir. And dont we have sailors on the bridge with binoculars anymore . Yes, and there are required to be lookouts. Host in the wall street journal, the navy has a smaller fleet. It says that readiness of the navy has decreased. Report issued in the wake of a string of deadly , the demandis year for Naval Operations increase, but the number of ships and other resources dwindled. Calling from california, what do you think about that . Caller i always shocked when you let me get on and let me sneak my entire comment. I enjoy donald trump as president. Politicians have to have vision. Vision is very important in politics, because they can see, basically, what the future is and what is going on with their country. Donald trump represents a new way of life. This whole war has always been about colonial rule. Donald trump deals with the germans and the native indians who this country actually belongs to. You have to understand that the war in afghanistan, israel, syria all of that is about colonial rule. And north korea i do not care how much weaponry they have. No country is going to be generous with guns. What countries need to do is they have to drop the guns and fight fisticuffs. There has to be a way where people can protect their land like gentlemen. Handtohand combat. Ok. gary is calling from atlanta. Retired military member. What branch did you serve in . Caller i was in the army. Good morning to you. I was in the army. I am a vietnam veteran. I really believe that the military is the past right now. I really believe that donald trump is a reflection of what they see. What i mean about that is when nixon was going through what he was going through what i was in the military, i wanted to get out. I felt betrayed that i was serving in that capacity. I tell you something as long as i have been a veteran, i had always been kind of proud. Whatever since donald trump became president , i really regret my service. I regret my service. I do not see the flag the same way no more. I do not know how other soldiers feel about this that are active. They cannot speak out. I believe they are really depressed about some of the lives and buffoonery heat some of the lies and buffoonery he does. He does not answer to no disciplinary code. And he never served in the military. Let me ask you this. One unusual thing about this administration is he has a lot of generals on his staff, even his chief of staff is a marine general. Does that change your view about how he approaches military decisions . Caller no. That is mainly for the ego. I also feel that the military Industrial Community is what really controls him. And they control it through them generals to they want to sell the missiles, sell the guns. America has a reputation of selling guns to both sides. There is a conflict coming, a storm coming. See it. Ple can it will be a really devastating thing. This is the same pattern that bush used. Gave tax cuts to the wealthy, then started a war. The economy went south. Obama did what he could do with what he had. Because republicans said there were no funds for anything else. Hopefully, everything will work out for him. And a happy new year to you, too. Hill reports the military said to begin accepting transgender recruitment after the Trump Administration that the pentagon will accept transgender recruits monday after the Trump Administration decided not to appeal a court order blocking the president s ban. The department of justice announced friday it would delay announcing a stay on the president s transgender van before the supreme court. The department of justice the department of defense announced it will release an independent study of these issues in the coming weeks. Rather than litigate this interim appeal, the administration decided to wait for the study and will continue defend to defend the president and secretary defenses lawful authority. Steve is calling from indianapolis. What are your thoughts on the u. S. Military . Caller it is no secret that this country has been 10 times more than has spent 10 times more than any other country in the whole world. It will keep being that way. Never have to worry about we will always have money for military. They will not always be money for the middle class and the poor, as we have always seen on the tax as we have jesse on the tax cut spirit there will always be under for the rich and the military. And we do need money for the military. No doubt about that. Nevers one thing you will have to worry about. We have always been good whipping on other people. For the cat that commented on obama not being there he was there. He was the one who got in lawton. Isis was already on the run. This is just another trump declaring victory, just like he is declaring victory with the. Conomy he got handed something pretty good to him. Obama did not get the credit he deserved for a lot of things. Ok. last week, the Vice President made a surprise visit to afghanistan. According to reuters, he said that the u. S. Will see this through. The Vice President made a surprise trip to afghanistan to meet its leaders for months oner donald trump agreed open warfare there. He flew by helicopter to kabul, where he met the president and chief executive at the president ial palace. Lets look at some of the comments that the Vice President made during that trip. [video clip] from the safe haven off afghanistan, terrorists of al qaeda, aided and abetted by the taliban, struck the united september 11, 2001. We all remember the day. A day where we sought to thousand 977 innocent men and women, mothers and fathers, daughters, lose their lives. The American People understood this for what it was. An act of war. And as one nation and one people , we vowed to win this war on our terms on this soil. Together, with our allies, we came here to afghanistan to liberate its people and prevent the terrorists from ever threatening our homeland again. And we are staying in that fight. And we will see it through to the end. [cheers] [applause] jasper is on the line from memphis, tennessee, retired member of the military. What branch . Caller retired army, 1993. In 1971. When i went into the army, the army was the army. Ronald reagan came along and started cutting the army. We used to have education benefits and all kind of benefits. He came in and cut the military. After, i went on down through all of the other president s. I will tell you when president went into the military do you are member what Donald Rumsfeld said . We have to go to war with what we got. Here come trump trump do not know what he is doing. I agree with the other guy before. President obama done more for the military housing, education. And try to get them paid. We didthe republicans not get no pay. And our benefits he tried to get our benefits. People do not realize that george w. Bush put a bunch of people in the administration to stop the veterans from getting their benefits. When people are talking about the military i am a vietnam veteran. I fought in vietnam, all the way down through the years. Before saudi arabia. We did not have no different pay for a vietnam veteran. But they want to make all of this thing about the gulf war victims. I am a veteran. If you are a soldier, you are a soldier. Do not go telling you are a gulf war veteran. I am a soldier, too. I fought in battle, too. I do not like the device they do. As for the Vice President , they are a disgrace. I have my friends in germany saying, we talk back and forth i will tell you something. America is a big disgrace to this world. If people think we are number 1 we are number three or four in the world. We are not going far under trump. They got ripped off under this tax cut. Needs ismilitary coming out of your pocket, not the rich folks pocket. Thank you. Host lets talk about some of. He budget numbers according to the defense department, the dod topline 639t for fiscal 2018 is billion. That is just a slight increase over last years 606 billion topline. Something we saw an increase 2011. 001 until about that has sort of leveled off in recent years. It also outlines the priorities for fiscal year 2018. It says to improve war fighting readiness, achieving Program Balance by pressing shortfalls, building a larger, more capable, and more lethal joint force. It also outlines some of the major investments, the largest billion on aircraft, followed by almost 19 billion 7. 5 millionng and 7. 5 billion on preferred emissions, ground systems, and missile defense. Getting a call from texas, retired member of the military. Which branch . Armyr a member of the unsold 2005. The readiness of the military needs to be upfront and honest do not needk, we any of these transgender or anyone you need someone capable to do the fight up front. , we will not do that never win a battle. Trump. Ve in i believe what he is doing is the right thing. Irregardless of what everyone else thinks, i think the democrats and republicans need to be bipartisan and need to make this work. Host what would you like to see them do . What would you like to see republicans and democrats come together to do in order to make sure the military is at its top Readiness Level . Pay the military. Make sure they have all of their parts that they need for all branches of government. Needs to make sure they have all of the parts they need. The marines need to be paid for all of their equipment. Have a life. The military person is the one serving. When they say serving, that means they are going without a lifestyle the point is, they go without. Not that they will be rich. Going in the military is what we want our people in the United States to be. They want to be respected and Everyone Wants to be respected. Everyone needs to live in this lifestyle, no matter what you believe, no matter what your race, and get along. Is calling from san francisco. What do you think about the state of the u. S. Military . Caller i do not think they are prepared for the kinds of people that are against us right now and preparing for war against us. They are telling us that, including icbms that they could hit any city and destroy a lot of our country, and they have a good morale. That is what i like. They like the president. He is a good man. I believe in him. I think he is good for our country. He came in, and he is the only doneician that has ever anything that they said they would do. He works and, works to he cares about us. I did not see that an obama. I think the other countries in the world found that they did obamake us because of went around apologizing for the kinds of people we are. We are good people, and we need a good military. What is wrong with our military today is that we talk a lot, but we are not showing what we have. Other countries, they show that their military is still something. , even if theyiers have to have documentaries on tv and we need them on all of the coast. Right here in san francisco, and our newspaper, they showed the chinese coming in on ships in our marina in san francisco. They are illegal. We are being destroyed by people andjust want to come here, they do not care about us. They do not like our culture. We are good for the world. We are good people, and we are willing to give to everyone. But we have to show our strength. You cannot just talk about it. You have to show what you are doing and what you say you are doing host ok pay lets take a look at what the president said about his desire to boost military spending. [video clip] we recognize that weakness is the surest path to a conflict and unrivaled power is the most certain means of defens