Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has recommended cutting the military from 520,000 to 450,000. He has also recommended closing some bases in the US and reducing benefits for military members.
Hagel said that after the prolonged wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the planners are not planning on conducting long and large stability operations. Basically, there are no plans to have a big, drawn out conflict.
I hope America’s enemies got this memo because they will not hesitate to fight a long and drawn out war.
Why is it that government, when run by Democrats, cuts the military to solve money problems? Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and now Barack Obama cut our forces. It looks great on paper but when the stuff hits the fan we need boots on the ground. Former Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld was blasted when he said you go to war with the military you have but that is true. It is also true that the military we had when he said it was given to us by Clinton.
How will America respond when some big military event takes place (like say WWIII) and we have to have a draft to get enough people to fight the long protracted war the planners are not planning to conduct?
Why are member of the military having their benefits cut when this nation has many multiples of our military strength on welfare? Why do we not talk about cutting welfare and other social programs? Hell, they could probably make up the defense budget shortfall by getting rid of the Obamaphone program.
If our planners are not planning on a big long war why do we need to cut military bases in the US? We have plenty of military bases in other nations that we can close and save a ton of money. We really don’t need to project our strength forward if we are not going to have big long wars. We can respond to hotspots from bases in the US.
Hagel said the focus will be on protecting the homeland so let’s do it by keeping the bases in our homeland open and closing those bases in other nations.
Let’s cut welfare and ensure our warriors get the benefits they deserve, they earned and that we promised to them.
I agree with the plan to phase out older equipment but when we get rid of aging equipment we need to replace it with modern stuff or we will be severely behind the power curve. When the day comes that we need to go big it will be too late to start modernizing our armed forces.
The military is a necessary part of our country. It is there to protect us and keep us free. Part of that is being big enough and lethal enough to deter those who would attack us. The recommendations of Secretary Hagel weaken us as a nation and that is a position that we cannot and should not tolerate.
Yes, the military is an expensive part of government but it is a small part of the pie. Social welfare programs and unfunded liabilities are multiples of the Defense budget. We get the best bang for our buck (pun intended) with a strong well funded military.
It is much more valuable to the nation than welfare programs and spending programs that are not called for in our Constitution and are not helpful to the nation.
I hope that Congress makes the right decisions or one day in the future we will regret these cuts.
Source:
AFP
Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
