Sunday 22 May 2022 07:37 PM General Mark Milley warns cadets graduating from West Point to prepare for a ... trends now
The United States' top military officer warned soldiers graduating from West Point Saturday to prepare for a 'significant international conflict' with Russia and China - a skirmish he said will see the cadets battle robotic tanks, ships, and planes.
'You'll be fighting with robotic tanks and ships and airplanes,' General Mark Milley, America's highest ranking officer, said, speaking to more than 1,000 Army officer hopefuls.
'We've witnessed a revolution in lethality and precision munitions. What was once the exclusive province of the United States military is now available to most nation states with the money will to acquire them.'
During his address, Milley, chairman of the Army's Joint Chiefs of Staff and the principal military advisor to the president, told graduates to prepare for the brewing conflict - which he said is sure to change how future wars are fought.
'The world you are being commissioned into has the potential for a significant international conflict between great powers,' Milley, 63, began.
'And that potential is increasing, not decreasing.'
The United States' top military officer, General Mark Milley, warned soldiers graduating from West Point Saturday to prepare for a 'significant international conflict' with Russia and China - a skirmish he said will see the cadets battle robotic tanks, ships, and planes
He went on: 'Whatever overmatch we, the United States, enjoyed militarily for the last 70 years is closing quickly, and the United States will be, in fact... challenged in every domain of warfare - space, cyber, maritime, air, and of course land.'
The US, he said, can no longer sit idle as a military powerhouse, as the two nations continue to show both growth a desire for global conquest - Russia with its aggression in Ukraine, and China with its recent economic and military growth.
Drawing parallels with technology seen in Russia's invasion, Milley warned that future wars will be even more complex, with unseen enemies and sophisticated warfare that will see a need for new weapons and strategies from US Armed Forces.
'Right now, at this very moment, a fundamental change is happening in the very character of war,' Milley, a veteran of both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, said.
'We are facing right now two global powers, China and Russia, each with significant military capabilities, and both who fully intend to change the current rules based order.'
The general went on to declare that Putin's invasion of the former Soviet nation has taught the world that 'aggression left unanswered only emboldens the aggressor,' citing America's failure to take action against the autocrat and his already mobilized army.
He then cited some of the recent atrocities committed by Putin's men, mentioning campaigns in
