Army to cut more Brigade Combat Teams, reorganization coming as it loses another 40K

[McDad]

We don't have the abilities to manufacture war supplies on the scale we did for WWII nor the ability to call up the people.

We do. Just doesn't seem that way right now

Just imagine the reaction to the draft being reinstated?

If threat to America was imminent, Americans would respond.

Spending does not equate smart spending, how much money are we spending on unneeded/unwanted weapons systems, women in combat, trans-gendered troops, ext?

Agreed.

 

[hog88]

We do. Just doesn't seem that way right now

I hope you are correct. I have serious doubts and they stem from regulatory agencies. I can't see any POTUS/congress regardless of party neutering agencies such as OSHA and the EPA enough to allow the ramp up that would be needed.


If threat to America was imminent, Americans would respond.

You have way more faith than I do.


Agreed.

.

 

[Obsessed]

That's just the 80,000 in the military.

What about spouses? Or the infrastructure surrounding the bases? There's a whole lot more to it than that.

I don't think the military is a jobs program for the record. It's way more than that.

When we lost the 188th fighter wing last year, it hit our local economy hard. That was just 1,000 soldiers. I can't fathom 80,000

 

[McDad]

.

I understand what you are saying.I believe Impossible things happen when people are united by a common purpose. Survival is very motivating.

 

[Grand Vol]

You guys need to understand my indictment of the military has nothing to do with the folks who volunteer and serve. It has to do with the structure, the leadership, and the concept of what is required to keep America safe.

I know. And that's why the debate can be reasonable.

 

[Rasputin_Vol]

I've said before that these troops need to be brought home anyways and at the very least, boost the local economies in El Paso, Columbia, SC, Clarksville, Fayetteville, NC, or various other towns scattered along the Mexican border or in rural areas. Why spend billions on the Korean Peninsula, The ME, and Western Europe when there is plenty of work they could be doing here?

 

[Grand Vol]

What do you mean what about the spouses? Presumably the ones that are working will still be working and some of the ones who weren't, will be. The ones with spouses may be better off than the single guys.

What are the infrastructural consequences you speak of? I want to scale back, so I'm good with changing the infrastructure, broadly speaking.

Not always the case. If the spouses are in governement employ, they go as well. Or in a related business off base that's forced to scale back because of the cuts. You assume that just because they are employed they won't be affected. Which is a nice segue into the infrastructure comment.

The bases aren't just losing the troops. They also lose the local businesses that support those troops. I. E. The McDonald's they eat at for lunch, the Quickie Mart they gas up at, the local bars and taverns they patronize. That kind of infrastructure. And that's going to hit the local economies as well.

Your problem is you don't think on a wide enough scale and think my support is only because I was military. But I tend to have a lot more focus on the big picture than you do with your non-interventionist standpoint on the military.

 

[IPleadInsanity]

The military needs have changed. I hope our military is changing with the need, hard to tell with Obama driving. What we need now are large numbers of special forces, highly mobile who can be inserted/recalled quickly. Temporary boots on the ground, stationed in completely secure areas for living and training and not open to suicide bombers or traitors from local militias. Guerrilla warfare just like the old days is what is now required to fight the new terrorism. They might be deployed in downtown Berlin or middle of nowhere in Afghanistan on short notice.

 

[MercyPercy]

I find it hard to believe, considering how much more we already outspend the rest of the world militarily, that cutting back will somehow turn us into a bunch of chumps.

Everyone wants cuts everywhere except for their one sacred cow, to use a McDad term.

 

[Rasputin_Vol]

I find it hard to believe, considering how much more we already outspend the rest of the world militarily, that cutting back will somehow turn us into a bunch of chumps.

Everyone wants cuts everywhere except for their one sacred cow, to use a McDad term.

That won't be true for too much longer. You can only counterfeit money but for so long before people realize it is worthless. Our military was going to have to go through a downsizing anyways.. either by design or through fiscal force.

 

[FLVOL_79]

Who wants to fight these wars?

I had a good time!

 

[Grand Vol]

I find it hard to believe, considering how much more we already outspend the rest of the world militarily, that cutting back will somehow turn us into a bunch of chumps.

Everyone wants cuts everywhere except for their one sacred cow, to use a McDad term.

I don't think anyone used the term chump.

 

[McDad]

Not always the case. If the spouses are in governement employ, they go as well. Or in a related business off base that's forced to scale back because of the cuts. You assume that just because they are employed they won't be affected. Which is a nice segue into the infrastructure comment.

The bases aren't just losing the troops. They also lose the local businesses that support those troops. I. E. The McDonald's they eat at for lunch, the Quickie Mart they gas up at, the local bars and taverns they patronize. That kind of infrastructure. And that's going to hit the local economies as well.

Your problem is you don't think on a wide enough scale and think my support is only because I was military. But I tend to have a lot more focus on the big picture than you do with your non-interventionist standpoint on the military.

I can appreciate the boon to a local economy a military installation, or manufacturer of military goods is. However, uncertainty is inherent in any "business". Plants close down forcing employees and spouses to move. Demographics in communities shift causing people to move. The military family and their local economy cannot be immune to the same realities faced by the private sector. If we make military decisions for the health of local economies, we are failing in our purpose to sustain a military force.

 

[McDad]

Furthermore, military tech (like GPS) Should've been leased to everyone not a US citizen. Not given as a Frisbee.

 

[Obsessed]

Furthermore, military tech (like GPS) Should've been leased to everyone not a US citizen. Not given as a Frisbee.

Ummmm. Ok.

 

[volinbham]

I don't have a problem with the cuts per se but wonder why we don't see this at all agencies. Seems DoD is the only that is actually downsizing personnel.

 

[McDad]

Ummmm. Ok.

Dude, our country could make made stacks of cash leasing that stuff out. If 10% of the world paid $1 per month for it, it would produce $700 million per month. $8.4 trillion per year.

 

[McDad]

I don't have a problem with the cuts per se but wonder why we don't see this at all agencies. Seems DoD is the only that is actually downsizing personnel.

Agree to an extent. DoD should increase / decrease based on need. I could see how the DoD could decrease while the DoT increases.

 

[Rasputin_Vol]

Dude, our country could make made stacks of cash leasing that stuff out. If 10% of the world paid $1 per month for it, it would produce $700 million per month. $8.4 trillion per year.

How did you get from $700 million to $8.4 trillion??? :blink:

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

You guys need to understand my indictment of the military has nothing to do with the folks who volunteer and serve. It has to do with the structure, the leadership, and the concept of what is required to keep America safe.

Totally understood.

 

[Rasputin_Vol]

You guys need to understand my indictment of the military has nothing to do with the folks who volunteer and serve. It has to do with the structure, the leadership, and the concept of what is required to keep America safe.

Is is sad that you would have to add that disclaimer. I don't think any reasonable person is against the troops.

 

[Obsessed]

Dude, our country could make made stacks of cash leasing that stuff out. If 10% of the world paid $1 per month for it, it would produce $700 million per month. $8.4 trillion per year.

I just didn't know what a frisbee had to do with it.

(Don't yell at me, I have feelings too)

 

[YorkVol]

We are out of money. We cannot afford vast social programs & infinite military budgets. Sacred cows cannot feast on a desolate prairies.

It's the wrong way to save money, imo. We need to shut down bases, look hard at all procurement programs and cut fat everywhere except the maneuver brigades. We also need to look across the federal budget for spending cuts--too often defense spending is the first to be cut without regard to the effects, while other spending remains untouched.

 

[Rasputin_Vol]

It's the wrong way to save money, imo. We need to shut down bases, look hard at all procurement programs and cut fat everywhere except the maneuver brigades. We also need to look across the federal budget for spending cuts--too often defense spending is the first to be cut without regard to the effects, while other spending remains untouched.

Nibble nibble nibble... no one wants to make the deep cuts we really need.

 

[Grand Vol]

Nibble nibble nibble... no one wants to make the deep cuts we really need.

Fine, how about matching cuts in every federal agency and not just the DoD as York stated.

I'm pretty sure cutting the IRS and EPA isn't going to affect our national security unlike what Obama thinks.

ETA: And how about Congress starts cutting their perks as well? I found an article some years ago, can't find it now, about how Congress has like a ten or more figure budget.