US Military Spending

A quick glance at the trends in US Military spending over the past few decades reveals some key information about how this country has been approaching its problems. The Council of Fereign Relations' website contains some insight as to how.
Ever since 2001 the US's military spending has increased to an extreme degree, with a peak in 2010. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute findings highlight that in this time the US was the world's largest exporter of major arms, making up 31% of the global volume. Further, these details are significant because 2010 was a deadly year for the US in Afghanistan, setting the record at one American killed every 18 hours, on average. This highlights the impact that the foreign, and increasingly unpopular war had on our military spending. This is very important to understand in today's climate, especially in a time where many do not support another war in the Near East. 
Long-term this fact may have consequences on an increase in military spending now. This can be seen in the veritable explosion in national debt since our engagements in the Middle East began. Comparing our national debt to GDP, our national debt is near a level unseen since the Second World War, and it continues to grow. I cannot - as a writer - highlight the importance of this fact more. Our country's debt is a matter that cannot be ignored for much longer, and drastic increases in military spending are guaranteed to make this debt worse. Currently, no politician nor sitting official has a solid plan - long or short term - to reduce or erase our country's debt, and that is a major problem. This is a problem that is not improving with an increase of military spending, and it will continue to worsen until the matter of debt can be handled directly.