Pentagon warns sequester cuts will lead to ‘unready, hollow’ force

A top Pentagon official warned Congress on Wednesday that sequestration would be a “major step” to creating “an unready, hollow” military force... Carter said the across-the-board cuts would require the Pentagon to “substantially modify and scale back the new defense strategy... Carter said that sequestration would introduce “senseless chaos” into the management of defense programs. He said it would result in less training for military units, including some later-deploying units to Afghanistan... In the 2013 budget, Carter said sequestration would lead to the Pentagon buying four fewer F-35 fighters, one fewer P-8 aircraft, 12 fewer Stryker vehicles and 300 fewer Army medium and heavy tactical vehicles.

The Pentagon sees that the gravy train is coming to a screeching halt, and they are not happy about it, basically complaining "but we won't be able to afford to buy new toys!"

I think it's good that the DoD will finally be forced to face the same economic reality as the rest of the country. The DoD is like a PCP junkie who has had a non-stop flow of junk for about a decade now, and their supply is about to be abruptly cut off. Of course they are going to whine and throw a hissy fit and make it seem like the end of the world.

Maybe when this new reality hits, it will finally become clear to the DoD that perpetual war is simply unsustainable. Maybe it will mean we have to choose our battles more carefully. Maybe it will force us to use different strategies to resolve conflicts. Maybe it will change the practice of military defense to be more in line with the common sense understanding of the word "defense."

OMB (Office of Management and Budget) on Tuesday issued guidance to federal agencies that it would begin consulting with them about implementing the sequester and announced that military personnel account would be exempted from the cuts...

We will still have military manpower, but they just will not have as much access to weapons or combat training or international deployment. They would be "unready and hollow" in terms of aggressive military ability, but they would still have basic training and discipline. I'm sure we could find something for a large organization of physically fit, disciplined individuals to do inside our own borders. For instance when I was in the Marine Corps and not on a deployment, we were conducting "Operation: Beautification." Cleaning, maintenance, improvements. Maybe we could initiate Operation: Beautification on a country-wide level.

Here is the link to the source article thehill.com...

Thoughts?

It we cut back on war spending, say go back to pre-9/11 levels.

Get out of all these military boondoggles, we have not really had a generation in the US that has not known its country at war.

I mean think about that, Every generation of American if sufficiently long lived has probably seen their country at war since ww2...

Don't need near as much of a budget if the Pentagon would worry about our country's security alone.

No more friggin land grabbing, resource sucking, central bank planting war!

reply to post by benrl


I agree. It's time for a break from the warmongering. Transnational corporations are more than capable of making a mess of the planet without the military to further complicate the situation.

reply to post by azbowhunter


Exactly. We would do well to look to the Swiss model of military defense, which provides security without making the rest of the world feel threatened. You don't always need to take the hill; often times it's better to dig a fox hole.

We will still have the highest financed military in the history of human kind. Honestly it wont even affect the military that much. There is plenty of money to be saved, but noone is serious about doing it. 1st military cut I suggest are change of command cerimonies. Huge waste of money to make some douche feel good about himself.