unhappycamper note: Since the ‘Pentagon’ (DoD? Gannett?) has ‘requested’ that I only post one paragraph from articles on Army Times, and Airforce Times, To keep in that same (new) tradition, I will also do the same for for articles on Navy Times, Marine Corps Times, stripes.com and military.com.
To read the article in the military's own words, you will need to click the link.
Read all about Fair Use here. It sure is beginning to smell like fascism.
unhappycamper summary of this article: The United States military has had free run for every toy they wanted for the last ten years to the tune of around a trillion dollars a year. The costs of occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan were 'off the books' (aka Supplemental Funding) and those costs did not appear the national budget, just in the national deficit.
Our national economy is in the toilet and the military is whining that they (also) will have to sacrifice the never ending flow of dollars.
Let me give you guys a few places to cut some bucks:
1. Stop building the $40 billion dollar USS Gerald R. Ford.
2. Stop this nonsense with the very expensive F-35.
3. Stop building $5 billion dollar destroyers (that are more expensive than the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers).
4. Get out of the sandbox.
5. Take care of our damaged troops when they come home.
Gen. Ray Odierno, a former commander of operations in Iraq, said the current fiscal crisis “is perhaps the greatest threat to our national security,” but the situation also provides opportunities.Odierno: Time coming to do ‘less with less’By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday May 12, 2011 17:00:40 EDT
Odierno did not offer any new ideas on what specifically needs to be done.