With being in the national guard I feel that with president obama’s proposed reduction of military forces. President Obama is planning on cutting down all the military forces by almost half. Its been said that with the cuts in military funding and government spending the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines are going to be the smallest force since before World War II. When Obama announced that he was going to reduce the military force you will notice that many people agree with his decision because the cuts in spending instead of raising taxes.
With the military getting cut instead of raising taxes you can see that the military will be the first thing to be cut because the military not only has the most money from the budget but it also uses a lot of money which is probably overused. With not only being in the military I can see the cuts and they really are hurting some of the good things that the military has going. The national guard is getting most of the cuts along with the active army. The question I pose is what happens when you have a natural disaster and you need the national guard but with all the budget cuts they cant help with everything they should be able to do. The most recent cut I have seen is that I have seen the reduction in force. I have seen great soldiers get kicked out of the military just because they cant pass a physical fitness test and then they get only three more tests before they are forced out of the military. These soldiers are great soldiers they just aren’t able to pass a pt test .
As you can see my opinion on this I really hope you see the impact that It could have on not just the people in the military but it could and will probably happen that we will go to another war and then we arnt going to have the man power to start a new war. We could also see an economic impact that if we do start a war and we don’t have the man power they your going to have to pay all the new soldiers coming in so why do we need to be kicking some out.
I agree and disagree with you in a sense. I agree that there should be cuts in the budget but not the military. The government needs to just be more frugal with their spending. The military could possibly use some cuts, yet the military is an extremely important service in the United States. The only problem with people is that they are so accustomed to being protected that they forget that if we cut the military that protection maybe in jeopardy. The government just needs to watch how they spend money and rethink how the taxpayer’s money is being used to truly help them.
ReplyDeleteWe should be a little more careful with saying that President Obama is looking to cut the size of the military. It's the House that controls appropriations, spending, and technically Congress is responsible for determining the size of our standing military. Initially, I agree with your assertion that it's a shame that we are losing good soldiers due to budget cuts, perhaps we should look at the state of the military first and attempt to find a way to trim the fat while keeping our country in fighting shape.
ReplyDeleteWhile the military may decrease in size over the coming decades, we must remember that the traditional form of warfare is no longer going to be the status quo in military operations. Instead of relying upon numerous battalions to engage in a particular theatre, our current military is geared toward quick responses and surgical attacks. Advances in technology and weapons capabilities have allowed air support and artillery to become the mainstays of our fighting forces with infantry taking the backseat to the other specializations of troops. These advances alone would dictate a smaller Armed Forces unit than the US has been accustomed to over the last 70 years.
Secondly, we have to remember that no one likes the idea of raising taxes and it's difficult to find the perfect proportion of spending and taxes that would lead to a balanced budget. This is particularly true when the United States is engaged in combat operations on two separate fronts (well, not so much in Iraq anymore) and our failing economy has made the reality of needing to prioritize all the more apparent. Because the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq are tapering off, it is now time to reassess our commitment to a large standing military.
Some possible solutions for our issue of budgetary problems would be to spend less money on equipment (not a viable solution if we need to go to war again), reduce the number of soldiers (and conflicts) that we are a part of (a more popular solution), reduce the rate of pay for our soldiers (I think this has led to some military coups before - so it probably won't happen), or to raise taxes (but the economy is in horrible shape). So this is a very tricky problem that our government faces. Given that most conflicts take many months/years of escalation before they become hot issues, the safest bet is to probably reduce the size of the military in hopes that we will no longer need such a large fighting force in the future...
This world has always been ruled by the nations with the strongest military. It has been this way since the beginning of time. With military power comes not only the benefit of being able to defend yourself at home but to also strike out against those who cause the world unjust.
ReplyDeleteI agree with budget cuts all across the board but this should only be a means of "trimming the fat". What I mean is there is always room for improvement. We should always be in search of what has become obsolete and unnecessary in order to keep our spending at a minimum.
While "That guy" is correct we are no longer in days of sending waves of men at our enemies in an attempt to overrun them. We have become much more tactical in our efforts. Instead of instantly sending thousands of men to Afghanistan after 9/11 we had CIA and Special Forces working as the tip of the spear with local Afghan militias to pursue Bin Laden.
That being said not every situation calls for a small tactical team to get the job done. HYPOTHETICALLY if a country like China, with such a high population, wanted to invade our borders we could no longer have the "tip of the spear" mentality. If we were to deplete the amount of our forces by any significant number it could be an open door to terror and chaos.
I realize the amount of times we have had conflict on our own soil is outstandingly low. Your homeland should always be your #1 priority though. Remember the Visigoths were able to sack the mighty Empire of Rome.
I agree there should always be cuts regardless of the situation, but I also feel the military is our most valuable asset. If you have not already I suggest reading the poem "It is the Soldier". (Food for thought)
We wouldn't be a fraction of the country we are today if we did not have great emphasis on our military and its strength.
Remember who keeps you safe.
jake
The government needs to make some budget cuts, everyone knows this. However cutting the military budget should not be the first thing to consider in this situation. The first thing that I question about the military being reduced in size is what happens when another war gets started, we all know it will eventually happen, will there be another draft in that case? If I wanted to be in the military I would have joined, I don’t like the thought of being drafted into war. I doubt that there will be any military budget cuts anytime soon. Without a superior military the U.S. would have little left to be proud of.
ReplyDeleteBurke Lienemann
The military is vital for the US protection and its allies either on the home or foreign front, but the reduction of the military budget would have a negative impact as of the present since future projects involving robotic combats are incomplete as well as future weapons. Also the reduction of military forces is slowly being replaced by robotic ones which will save lives and money in the long run. However, an available option is open to the US government to which it can cut back on military funding. This option is to divert some of its military budget to the private military sector. Although certain military companies, Black Water, have given the private military complex a poor record doesn’t mean that the other companies are bad businesses. Maybe in the future the private military complex will mirror the medical care field or even other competitive business markets, but maybe by then the US military will be fully robotic and controlled by a selected few or possibly operated by a single computer.
ReplyDelete--Will