The Five Percent Whine

[unhappycamper]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/15/sequester-cuts-army_n_2697770.html



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/15/sequester-cuts-army_n_2697770.html
By LOLITA C. BALDOR 02/15/13 04:50 PM ET EST AP

WASHINGTON — Soldiers deployed to Afghanistan next year may see their war tours extended because budget cuts will drastically limit training for brigades to replace them, the top Army general said Friday.

Gen. Raymond Odierno, the Army chief of staff, said the military will be able to fund training and operations for combat units in Afghanistan now and for those deploying in the summer and fall. But he says there will be delays in training for those deploying in 2014.

If those training delays can't be made up, Odierno said he would have to send forces to war that aren't ready or extend deployments of units already there. A number of combat brigades will be deploying later this year and next year, even as the U.S. winds down the war.

"We will try to divert money so we do not have to extend people in Afghanistan," Odierno told a conference at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "That's a very big concern of mine."



unhappycamper comment: All this gohmerting about "We can't do _______ " is about a lousy five percent budget decrease.

[Victor_c3]

1. yup, who would have thought that a cut would be so devastating

I doubt that it will be nearly as bad as the officials are trying to make it seem. If training for deployment is such a priority, maybe something not so important should be cut first.

Besides, isn't the President saying that there will be 1/2 the troops in Afghanistan by this time next year? So, with that in mind, you already don't have to train near the same volume of troops to go to Afghanistan.

[unhappycamper]

2. I watched the Defense Budget hearings yesterday.

All of the service chiefs told us all the bad things that will happen if that 5% cut occurs. I found myself saying 'Good".

Keep in mind that Generals do General things:

* tell us how dire things are
* tell us why they need more money
* tell us why we need to spend more
* tell us how the military family is suffering while they spend 58% of the Discretionary Budget on toys

The MIC has diversified and has contracts all over the country. When you try to cut this crap down, they cry "Jobs!" Yup it is about jobs. I would prefer jobs go to people who do not build weapons.

We need to get out of the war business.