 The American general warned about war with China. The head of the US Air Force's Air Mobility Command, General Mike Minahan, has issued an ominous warning about a looming future high-end conflict against China, likely over Taiwan. In response, he is ordering leadership under his command to work to ensure their units are as prepared as they can be for this potentiality. This goes right down to demanding that various personnel visit the shooting range to make clear that unrepentant lethality matters most, with Minahan imploring them to aim for the head. General Michael A. Minahan, who as head of Air Mobility Command, oversees the service's fleet of transport and refuelling aircraft, warned personnel to speed their preparations for a potential conflict, citing Chinese President Xi Jinping's aspirations and the possibility that Americans will not be paying attention until it is too late. I hope I am wrong, Minahan wrote. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025. Xi secured his third term and set his war council on October 2022. Taiwan's presidential elections are in 2024 and will offer Xi a reason. United States presidential elections are in 2024 and will offer Xi a distracted America. Xi's team, reason and opportunity are all aligned for 2025. Minahan then directs airmen who are qualified to use a weapon to fire a clip into a seven-meter target with the full understanding that unrepentant lethality matters most. Sometime in February, aim for the head, he said. Minahan's memo encourages the thousands of troops under his command to prepare for war in several other regards. All personnel reporting to him should consider their personal affairs and be more aggressive about training he instructs. Run deliberately, not recklessly, he writes. If you are comfortable in your approach to training then you are not taking enough risk. The memo first reported by NBC News is dated February the 1st which is still days away and was distributed to Minahan's subordinate commanders. An Air Force spokeswoman Maj Hope Cronin verified its authenticity writing in a statement shared with media after the memo began circulating on social media that Minahan's order builds on last year's foundational efforts by Air Mobility Command to ready the Air Mobility Forces for future conflict should deterrence fail. A Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said that the U.S. National Defense Strategy makes clear that China is the pacing challenge of the Department of Defense and the U.S. officials are working with allies and partners to preserve a peaceful free and open Indo-Pacific. A U.S. defense official speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue said that Minahan's comments are not representative of the Department's view on China. Before taking over at Air Mobility Command in 2021, Minahan served in a variety of influential roles in the Pacific beginning in 2013. They include a stint as the deputy commander of the Indo-Pacific Command with purview of China and Taiwan from September 2019 to August 2021. The general's memo coincides with an effort by the Pentagon to reset 20 years of counter insurgency wars in the Middle East and as the Biden administration continues to equip Ukraine with billions of dollars in security assistance as it strives to fight off a Russian invasion.