By Here is more on the expected budget cuts that the Pentagon is bracing for:
The Pentagon is considering massive changes to the force — including a draft — amid fears that new and far deeper budget cuts are looming just over the horizon, a top military official said Thursday.
Marine Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, offered a timeline for how deep cuts will affect the force during the next decade, including big reductions in operational budgets, slashing the size of the active-duty force and even scaling back entitlements such as retirement and health care, according to the Military Times newspapers.
President Obama has proposed cutting $400 billion from the defense budget over the next 12 years, but Cartwright said the military is bracing for even deeper cuts. [Stars & Stripes]
It seems to me that this is the same type of a scare tactic as the President recently stating that he can’t guarantee that people will receive their Social Security checks next month. If you work in government long enough you will see that everyone is resistant to their rice bowls being reduced and the military is no different.
5:49 pm on July 16th, 2011 1
Quite right. Exhibit A: The Washington Monument closed to the public in the last shutdown, while the park police boot illegally parked cars as usual.
6:44 pm on July 16th, 2011 2
As we looked at the numbers here before, 400 billion, dilluted with 12 years, is nothing.
It is no real pain for the military and no real help in cutting the debt.
6:57 pm on July 16th, 2011 3
Could save a few billion by preventing generals from getting all their wish list crap when there are already products in the pipe to accomplish what they want… They just have to wait for it. There may be a certain general right now who is trying to jump in line and do special requests for all kind of unnecessary things, or things that aren’t coming “soon enough”…
7:07 pm on July 16th, 2011 4
Like the F-35 according to the Economist?
7:14 pm on July 16th, 2011 5
One of the myths around Ronald Reagan was he caused the Soviet Union to collapse by rattling them so much with things like the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI aka Star Wars), that they went into an unsustainable spending spree and bankrupted themselves.
Now we seem to be doing it to ourselves by imagining unlikely threats like the Chinese attacking one of our carriers or the North Koreans hitting us with a nuke missile, while we may be over-looking the less costly real threats just around the corner.
Who planned for up armored personnel carriers 10 years ago? Why haven’t any of those F-22s been used in the fight again?
7:20 pm on July 16th, 2011 6
Do it! Draft, draft draft!!
7:35 pm on July 16th, 2011 7
So do draftees get paid less than the All Volunteer Army members? Haves and haves not? Two classes of soldiers? Or do they adjust downward the entire pay chart?
7:45 pm on July 16th, 2011 8
Sapper. NEWS FLASH!!! We have always had the haves and have nots….the Married Folks and the UNFORTUNATES.
Take that 19 yr old couple, pay their mortgage, give them separate RATS..OHA…living like kings.
Let me guess, you were married most of your military life.
Equal work for equal pay??? MY @SS!!!
8:06 pm on July 16th, 2011 9
Ole Tanker. Yes, I was married most of my military career. If you didn’t agree with the pay scales, write your Congressman. Single soldiers get room and board; a barracks room or BEQ and a meal card. A lifestyle commensurate to their service. If you want equal pay for equal work, we need to link salary to performance and the EER and get rid of the seniority pay increases. In my opinion, this is too hard to do and keep it from getting out of control and keeping personal biases from getting involved.
If you want more pay in the Army, get promoted! (and get married).
8:12 pm on July 16th, 2011 10
#9 Yeah it’s easy. Now you can just marry your room mate/battle buddy.
9:13 pm on July 16th, 2011 11
Leon,
I think I’m having the same problem with the same general. He wouldn’t happen to have 1star would he?
9:18 pm on July 16th, 2011 12
11:39 pm on July 16th, 2011 13
Getting married while in the military to “get rich quick”- what a great idea-LOL. How has it worked out for most who have tried it?
11:41 pm on July 16th, 2011 14
How many times have Songtan Sally, and her pals, been married so some 19 year old E-1 could live off post and make that “big money”?
11:43 pm on July 16th, 2011 15
They “health and welfare” single soldiers to death while the married soldiers don’t even bother to use trash bags or the recycle bins. Just imagine what some of those living quarters look like.
12:21 am on July 17th, 2011 16
Why not just reduce (if not outright leave) forces in Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, Japan, Germany, Italy, and everywhere else. The multi trillion dollar debt is out of control.
12:21 am on July 17th, 2011 17
Songtan Sally, formerly TDC bubblebutt, has been married? To a GI? Seriously? C’mon, now you’re pulling my leg. I’m incredulous, even.
1:43 am on July 17th, 2011 18
Leon,
This is what I heard from a guy who was at Osan in ’82, ’92, and retired in 2002.
When he first came to Korea as a young airman, Songtan Sally was a very desirable bargirl.
She got married to a GI, had a couple of kids, moved to the States, made her husband sick of her shyt, got kicked out, and came back to Korea.
In 1992, she was still looking OK. I think she was back in the bar at that time.
At some point she went to TDC but came back to Osan around 2000… rumor was that she ran afoul of the powers-that-be up there.
The rest is history…
…and that history must be uglier than anyone wants to admit because I can’t imagine she would walk up and down the street for years on end saying, “C’mon, let’s go,” if there weren’t some people coming and going… and, presumably, coming again.
I can believe she was hot once because there are a couple of girls now lurking around the villes, pilfering a living best they can, who don’t look much worse than her…
…but they were VERY hot about 12 years ago and had unlimited action and cash from GIs.
Anybody else have a take on this?
5:04 am on July 17th, 2011 19
Cut the military budget and they’ll ask for the draft? That sort of fear-mongering is unacceptable.
5:10 am on July 17th, 2011 20
19. Yeah, that came out of left field. An all conscript army wouldn’t be cheap either. Long run or short term. Someone is talking out their ass.
5:38 am on July 17th, 2011 21
Leon – defense of marriage act overrides state law, so you can’t marry your battle buddy for bah. My legal question would be once repeal is fuly implemented, if you marry a new recruit that is amazingly enough a preoperation transvestite in a state with same sex is ok laws, then hish has an operation physically switching genders, does the defense of marriage act now no longer apply and can the Soldier now get that bah money?
6:12 am on July 17th, 2011 22
SAPPER!! You gave me the “canned’ answer on married benefits, nothing new. You should know there have been independant studies of the Military Pay system commissioned by congress,
and the all recommend doing away with the married bonus. Congress refuses to follow their recommendations. Humm..wonder why we have the budget woes we have now? How much of that Gov $$$ makes it into state economies? Maybe 100%?
For every single soldier who writes his congressmean, there is the married soldier, their spouse, Mother in Law, Landlords..etc..etc. So in theory “Write your congressman”, sound good. We all know it’s B*LLSh!t.
7:10 am on July 17th, 2011 23
There was a fairly pretty crazy Korean girl hanging out at the Songtan Wendy’s or Burger King back in 1990 AND 1993. You had to be careful not to make eye contact with her or she’d be all over you saying things like “you remember me?” Once she got a hold of you it was very hard to get rid of her, especially since you didn’t want to make a scene and further embarrass yourself.
I came back to Songtan in 1996 and that crazy girl had been replaced by Songtan Sally. I doubt it’s the same person but you never know.
7:12 am on July 17th, 2011 24
Correction: I came back to Songtan in 2006, not 1996.
Anybody remember Judy from Top Gun circa 1990 lol?!
4:44 pm on July 17th, 2011 25
Kill two birds with one stone and cut all spousal benefits: cuts costs and prevents fraudulent marriages/unions. Also has the added benefit of actually paying people for their value rather than their need. US Military is American socialism at its finest.
5:47 pm on July 17th, 2011 26
#21,
The Defense of Marriage Act won’t last long after the DADT policy is removed.
And to answer your question, whether they can or not doesn’t change the fact that they should. A government’s prime responsibility is to protect its citizens, including its minorities. Discrimination is not protection.
12:41 am on July 19th, 2011 27
Marriage benefits won’t be touched, ever. The Military provides a few things to it’s soldiers in exchange for them giving up most of their constitutional rights and volunteering to be shot at.
1. Food and Shelter for yourself and your family
2. Training and a function / job
3. Clothing / tools to do that job
4. Medical care for yourself and your family
Everything else past that is just a bonus.
And no the US Military isn’t socialist, it’s an authoritarian dictatorship. Every Colonel or GO is a miniature dictator.
3:23 am on July 21st, 2011 28
Leon & Simo3870
That certain “Horse’s Ass” BG you refer to is on leave for two weeks and the entire 2ID sighed a collective sigh of relief…
How many million are being spent solely for “his support form bullets”???
3:48 am on July 21st, 2011 29
I can tell you money is being spent that is unnecessary. Anyone who’s been in the army any time at all doesn’t expect change over night. Right or wrong as far as the problems are identified (& it’s true there are problems), a ton of money is being wasted on the “capabilities”*** & quick half assed fixes, rushed beta versions etc…
***(favorite power word).
4:09 am on July 21st, 2011 30
Leon,
They just better hope PEO STRI never checks their usage rates for the last 3 years or so….cause they’d say “we’re jumping through our collective ass and spending 17M for what??
Also he (& his sycophants )are trying to spend around 3M more on unneeded BS which will be unused in peace time and useless if conflict occurs..