I mean yes people seem to be thinking that way but we have an immediate example we can point to of how just because the leadership of the US military is incompetent especially under Trump doesn't mean the rank and file US military personnel can be said to be generally incompetent or complete bullshitters.... and the example was the successful helicopter assault on Venezeula.

I disagree entirely with the politics and reasons for the helicopter assault that kidnapped Maduro but from a purely operational perspective it demonstrated that as stupid as the US president is the power he is wielding right now is not to be trivialized just because he is wielding it in a stupid way.

The US air force and navy have at points failed to adopt a realistic short range air defense doctrine, that isn't necessarily an indicator of an incompetence in US military might so much as a political consequence, especially since the US military has been forced to distance itself from Ukrainian counterparts who could share a lot more knowledge if the politics weren't so sour against Ukraine in the current US administration.

I think the only US weapon systems that are coming out of this as paper tigers are A-10 warthogs (they are being retired) and F35s (the issues with them are already well documented).

I hate the Iran War, there already has been so much unnecessary death and it was launched illegally domestically and in an international context. In the end no one will benefit from it, even Iran whose geopolitical power has been relatively increased has been devastated by bombing.

That is just it though, how can you say this makes the US military look weak when it has sent a diverse range of aviation over and through Iranian air space?

I don't know where this notion came from that it is reasonable to expect to be able to eliminate all of an enemies air defenses, especially if the enemy has factored in they will lose the air war from the beginning of their military reaction plans.

I think any serious US military highranking official who is even somewhat competent would point out that while you can mostly establish air dominance over a country as complex, large and powerful as Iran that you can never expect to fully ensure the air space is truly safe.

Maybe Trump, Pete Hegseth and their yes men think that could be accomplished, 99% of the US Military does not and will not until the whole apparatus is replaced from the top down by MAGA idiots.