The U.S. will be at war with Communist China in two years, a four-star Air Force general predicts.
Gen. Mike Minihan, head of Air Mobility Command, sent a memo warning officers under his command to prepare for imminent war with China by firing “a clip into a 7-meter target with the full understanding that unrepentant lethality matters most. Aim for the head.”
“I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me will fight in 2025,” he wrote, according to NBC News.
From NBC News:
Air Mobility Command has nearly 50,000 service members and nearly 500 planes and is responsible for transport and refueling.
Minihan said in the memo that because both Taiwan and the U.S. will have presidential elections in 2024, the U.S. will be “distracted,” and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have an opportunity to move on Taiwan.
He lays out his goals for preparing, including building “a fortified, ready, integrated, and agile Joint Force Maneuver Team ready to fight and win inside the first island chain.”
The signed memo is addressed to all air wing commanders in Air Mobility Command and other Air Force operational commanders, and orders them to report all major efforts to prepare for the China fight to Minihan by Feb. 28.
Minihan told troops by March to “consider their personal affairs and whether a visit should be scheduled with their servicing base legal office to ensure they are legally ready and prepared.”
Minihan also encouraged soldiers accept risks during training to steel themselves for battle.
“Run deliberately, not recklessly,” he writes, but later adds, “If you are comfortable in your approach to training, then you are not taking enough risk.”
The Defense Department acknowledged the memo’s authenticity following its publication but insisted Minihan’s statements are “not representative of the department’s view on China.”
“The National Defense Strategy makes clear that China is the pacing challenge for the Department of Defense and our focus remains on working alongside allies and partners to preserve a peaceful, free and open Indo-Pacific,” said Defense Department press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder.
The alarming memo comes as the The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ so-called Doomsday Clock was set to 90 seconds to midnight this week, the closest the group has claimed the world is to nuclear apocalypse.
