Reserve personnel across the five branches of the US armed forces cooperate more closely and are better suited to defend the United States than ever before, said Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner, Air Force Reserve chief. “When I think about where we are right now as a bunch of services, we are more in sync than we have ever been,” stated Stenner during a panel discussion Monday at the Reserve Officers Association’s national security symposium in Washington D.C. He added, “The focus is not on what’s good for each service, it’s on what’s good for the nation.” As for Air Force Reserve, Stenner said its organization and “core functions” are changing “based on the needs of this nation.” He continued, “I don’t believe we’re debating anymore whether we’re strategic or operational. It’s just how you couch it. We’re going to be both.”
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…