Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson dropped a bomb last night that which drew immediate fire from the Marine Corps community family.

During the second prime-time GOP Republican debate Wednesday night, the retired neurosurgeon presidential hopeful attempted to address the uphill charge a gutted military faces in taking on a wide range of global national security threats, including terrorism. such as "global jihadists." 

Many of the national security threats the U.S. faces have been created "because we are weak," he said at the CNN-hosted event at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.

"There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak," Carson said during the CNN-hosted event at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.

"It's because our Navy is so small, it's because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago, it's because our Marine Corps is not ready to be deployed," Carson said.

Marines took to social media to respond, and their reaction was Reaction to Carson's statement on Twitter was swift. 

Republican presidential candidate, businesswoman Carly Fiorina, makes a point during the CNN Republican presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015, in Simi Valley, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

A picture dated on June 13, 2014 and made available by UAE's official news agency WAM on September 25, 2014 shows Major Mariam al-Mansouri, the first female pilote to join the Emirates Air Forces, gesturing as she sits in the cockpit of her F-16 fighter jet. Mansouri, 35, "led the squadron" of UAE fighter jets that participated in raids targeting Islamic State jihadists in Syria as part of the US-led campaign against extremists. She is reportedly the first female UAE pilot of a fighter jet. She graduated from Abu Dhabi's Khalifa bin Zayed Air College in 2007 and is veteran pilot of F-16 warplanes. AFP PHOTO/HO/WAM == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/HO/WAM" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS ==HO/AFP/Getty Images

A military vehicle carries a Pterodactyl I unmanned aerial vehicle past the Tiananmen Gate during a military parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Beijing Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015. (Jason Lee/Pool Photo via AP)

A military vehicle carries a Pterodactyl I unmanned aerial vehicle past the Tiananmen Gate during a military parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Beijing Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015. (Jason Lee/Pool Photo via AP)

Centre for Diseases Control (CDC) epidemiologist Frank Mahoney (L) and US Major General Darryl Williams, commander of the US military's Operation United Assistance, hold a press conference about the Ebola virus at the US embassy in Monrovia on September 25, 2014. World leaders were asked to pledge urgently needed aid to battle Ebola in West Africa as Sierra Leone quarantined one million people in a desperate bid to beat back the deadly virus. US President Barack Obama warned that not enough was being done to tackle the crisis that has left close to 3,000 dead and is spreading at an alarming pace. AFP PHOTO / PASCAL GUYOTPASCAL GUYOT/AFP/Getty Images

Chinese army attack helicopters form a number "70" flying past a national flag during a military parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Beijing Thursday Sept. 3, 2015. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool)

Centre for Diseases Control (CDC) epidemiologist Frank Mahoney (L) and US Major General Darryl Williams, commander of the US military's Operation United Assistance, hold a press conference about the Ebola virus at the US embassy in Monrovia on September 25, 2014. World leaders were asked to pledge urgently needed aid to battle Ebola in West Africa as Sierra Leone quarantined one million people in a desperate bid to beat back the deadly virus. US President Barack Obama warned that not enough was being done to tackle the crisis that has left close to 3,000 dead and is spreading at an alarming pace. AFP PHOTO / PASCAL GUYOTPASCAL GUYOT/AFP/Getty Images

Chinese army attack helicopters form a number "70" flying past a national flag during a military parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Beijing Thursday Sept. 3, 2015. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool)

Carson's remarks appear Carson's remarks seem to refer to comments made by the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, but the politician seems to have missed some important details.

When speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee in January, Dunford testified about the effects shrinking budgets have sequestration has had on the Marine Corps.

"To meet our responsibilities as the nation's 911 force, we prioritized near-term readiness while assuming risk in our home station readiness, modernization, infrastructure sustainment and quality of life programs," Dunford said. "Today, approximately half of our home station units are at an unacceptable level of readiness."

Dunford did not, however, claim or imply that the United States Marine Corps is incapable of deployment.

Spokesmen for Ben Carson's campaign declined to comment.

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