It’s a Most Confusing Time to be in the U.S. Military

Who knows why we fight?

BILL ASTORE

JUN 14, 2026

It’s a most confusing time to be in the U.S. military. Who knows why we fight?

At the top, there’s a lack of principles, a lack of clarity, a lack of care.

There’s no accountability for losses and bad decisions.

The government keeps the people isolated from war’s true costs. There’s no call for sacrifice. No war bonds, no draft, no increase in taxes. Costs are largely kicked into the future as the national debt soars ever higher.

An all-volunteer military is essentially told to follow orders. Never mind about the morality or legality of the same.

The people are encouraged to cheer on or otherwise to support their warriors and warfighters. Basically, to wave the flag but otherwise to go about their business.

A divided Congress has essentially rendered itself powerless over war-making. Meanwhile, Members of Congress fight for their share of an expanding Pentagon pie of money (or pork) for their districts.

The Secretary of State says we went to war with Iran because Israel forced the U.S. government’s hand. So apparently in this case the U.S. military fights for Israel.

So far, the main beneficiaries of the war appear to be defense contractors, fossil fuel companies and banks, so apparently the U.S. military is fighting for them as well.

Clearly, with Iran the U.S. military is not fighting to defend the American people or to support and defend the U.S. Constitution.

Again, who knows why we fight?

The HAL 9000 knows the score

It’s always useful to ask Cui bono? while following the money. I asked my AI friends who’s benefiting from this war, and this was the answer the HAL 9000 spit out:

*****

The primary beneficiaries of the Iran war are Western defense contractors, major oil and gas corporations, and geopolitical rivals like Russia and China. The conflict has resulted in billions of dollars in windfalls for arms manufacturers and energy producers, while simultaneously shifting regional power balances. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Defense Contractors

  • Stock Surges: Arms manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have seen multi-billion dollar gains.
  • Missile & Defense Demand: High demand for THAAD interceptors and other Raytheon systems drives excess revenue. [1, 2]

Oil & Gas Majors

  • Record Profits: Surging crude prices have boosted revenues for producers like ExxonMobil and Chevron.
  • Energy Traders: European giants like Shell and BP capitalized on market chaos and sharp price movements. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Geopolitical Rivals

  • Russia: The conflict acts as a fiscal rescue by diverting Western attention and skyrocketing global energy prices.
  • China: China’s regional strategic influence is strengthened as the US is forced to divert military resources to the Middle East. [1]

Regional Powers

  • Israel: The war has neutralized immediate adversaries and solidified the country’s military posture in the region.

*****

Certainly, it’s indisputable how much the weapons makers and fossil fuel companies are profiting here.

Famously, Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler confessed in the 1930s he’d served as a gangster for capitalism with Standard Oil being one of his biggest clients. The Iran War seems to have benefited Israel, oil and gas interests, and military contractors the most, even as the average American has been hurt by inflation with much higher prices for gas, oil, groceries, and the like.

Interestingly, my AI friend didn’t list Iran as a major beneficiary of the war, but many have argued persuasively that Iran will emerge stronger from this conflict.

Again, it’s a most confusing time to be in the U.S. military.

PS: I thought I’d add this response I made to TomR’s comment below:

In 1985, when I pinned on those 2LT bars, I thought I had some clarity. America, though hardly perfect, was better than the model offered by the Soviet Union. Then the USSR collapsed in 1991, and the government went looking for new dragons to slay. And we found them and we keep finding them because we keep sowing the dragon’s teeth.

So the U.S. military has become a perpetual fighting machine, never mind the Constitution, never mind democracy, never mind morality or legality. If we don’t have enemies, we’ll create them.

9 thoughts on “It’s a Most Confusing Time to be in the U.S. Military”

  2. It is confusing to be in the military but it is equally confusing to be a civilian citizen of the empire. I am not a religious man but the word confusion reminded me of a religious principal: “In Christian theology, Satan is widely considered the author of confusion, a tactic used to pull believers away from God’s will. By using disorder, deception, and doubt, the enemy seeks to disrupt peace, cloud purpose, and foster disconnection”. If we are to survive as a nation, or even as a Human race, we must reestablish connection; with each other and with our internal moral compass. We must cease cooperation with the evil that has usurped governmental control of our lives and denounce all that it does. It is a false god, a false government. It is a lie. 

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  3. As we all know, our society is based on consumption. The military is a fabulous consumer of everything and it is a job provider across the 50 states. It is a way to take care of young men and women who see no future and volunteer to get an education in some limited way from Uncle Sam and be paid while doing it.

    War simply steps up the consumption by the destruction of stuff, primarily missiles and bombs but also with a chance of something really pricey destroyed like a ship or an aircraft.

    Since nobody is minding the store (no audits) anything goes regarding corruption.

    We must have the weapons industry to sell stuff to foreign countries to at least in part make up for all that we buy from them.

    Once in a while some soldier or sailor will die but it doesn’t happen often.

    Think of it as essentially milking a cow, the cow being we the people, while at the same time being our industrial base that makes nothing of use to us.

    Like so many things, population, global temperature, debt, the military budget keeps going up. And here comes AI! All the charts and graphs of things going up fast and faster shout out to us that a reckoning is coming but we press on regardless not knowing any other way of life. The end is coming (put nuclear war in too) but nobody can say exactly when or precisely how but it a matter of years, certainly less than a century.

    What can you do? Not much, so buy a bigger SUV and follow your favorite professional sports team. Enjoy!

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    2. In the 1960-70s kids were taught that we are “citizens” and citizenship meant participation in our communal welfare (democracy). Since that time “citizens” was replaced with “consumers”. How dehumanizing to be brainwashed into cheering for “consumer rights” instead of Human rights. A “consumer”, in a failing and manipulated capitalist economy, is a superfluous and expendable element. Do we courageously reclaim our citizenship, or drown quietly in a stacked deck of “consumer debt”?

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  4. No doubt about it, bad in many ways, but if you are a member of the 1% which means you care about money more than about the good of the people, then destruction of stuff that can then be replaced for more profit is a good thing.

    When one stops to think about it, that is what consumerism does. It uses stuff up and throws it away to buy more stuff. Look at all the self-storage places across the country. People have so much stuff they don’t know where to put it so store it where it sits unused. Presumably that stored stuff is useful and someone could use it, but instead is hoarded and in paying for the storage, more profit is earned.

    The panacea offered by every politician is “more growth” though we have grown far beyond sustainability for some time now. It is madness but it is normal until collapse comes. We can’t image a life without all our stuff but at some point it will be forced on us.

    Profit is a must and comes first. People have to deal with it and are, until AI takeover, a necessity to make a profit and have to be dealt with to keep them subservient.

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  6. All things considered, there is an enigma here that gnaws at my cerebral cortex: Military enlistment is up, not down (if you believe anything from any source these days). Regardless of the fact that DJT & Co. are gladly (predictably) claiming responsibility for it, this is an interesting trend given the spiraling popularity of the current administration. I’d love to hear some logical explanations for the recruiting surge.

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    1. Many reasons, I think. Military service remains respected within larger society. Recruitment bonuses. In some cases, a lack of opportunity in the civilian sector. Stunning too is that the age of enlistment has been raised to 42 in the Army. That’s the age I retired from the AF!

      Military recruitment is effective as well — and there are opportunities to be had in the military, even as the military itself is increasingly misused by a government that’s unconcerned with legality and morality.

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