Air Force General Mike Minihan, the head of the Air Mobility Command, in a USAF memo released Friday called for aggressive efforts to prepare for war against China in 2025, including orders to "aim for the head" in firearms training.
"I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me will fight in 2025," Minihan said in the internal memo, titled "February 2023 Orders in Preparation for — The Next Fight" and dated Feb. 1. It was obtained by NBC News.
Minihan, a C-130 transport plane pilot who now commands the Air Force's cargo jet fleet and other refueling and transport aircraft, has warned of Chinese aggression in the past. He gave a speech last summer at a conference titled, "The Mobility Manifesto," where he claimed the U.S. military was not ready to "fight and win inside the first island chain" in the Pacific against the Chinese military in a potential conflict.
This is a problem because "Your kids grow up subservient to a rules-based order that benefits only one country if we lose this," he said.
"There is no access to the global commons. There is no 'free and open.' There is no rules-based order. So, the stakes are incredibly high," he continued.
Tensions between the U.S. and China have risen on a range of contentious issues from disputes in the South China Sea to human rights and Taiwan. The Biden administration last week confronted China's government with evidence that suggests some Chinese state-owned companies are assisting Russia's war efforts in Ukraine.
Minihan in his memo said China will have an opportunity to move on Taiwan in 2025 because both Taiwan and the U.S. will have presidential elections in 2024, meaning the U.S. will be "distracted."
He said the U.S. should be preparing by building "a fortified, ready, integrated, and agile Joint Force Maneuver Team ready to fight and win inside the first island chain."
During the month of February, he directs all AMC personnel to "fire a clip into a 7-meter target with the full understanding that unrepentant lethality matters most. Aim for the head."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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