Question: Sequestration - the fear of cuts in military spending

HomeBrew Tider

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Aug 7, 2009
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Atlanta, GA
I'm against more military cuts because about a year and 4 months ago me and 20 of my coworkers lost our jobs due to military cuts. Others have lost there job throughout the year and more cuts mean even more of my former coworkers will be out of a job. I don't believe that the best way to fix the economy is to force more people into the jobless market. What do I know though, I'm just someone who has been laid off twice because of spending cuts since Obama was first elected president 4 years ago. I don't care who is really to blame, I just know that I had never been laid off before until Obama took office.
You have been victimized by the famous "Washington Monument Syndrome".

Deja Vu. Next week we face it again. Anybody think it will be addressed this time or just kicked down the road again. Since neither congress nor the whitehouse seem to be able to accomplish anything useful I have come to the conclusion that we may be better off in the long run letting it happen.
Congress will kick the can. The "cuts" are to proposed spending increases. It is all theater. The Pentagon will spend more this year than last.
 

seebell

Hall of Fame
Mar 12, 2012
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Gurley, Al
The US spends more on defense than the next 10 biggest spenders combined. We have been on a war footing vis a vis spending my entire 62 years of life. Some cutting would be a good thing.
 

BamaGoose

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Dec 7, 1999
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The US spends more on defense than the next 10 biggest spenders combined. We have been on a war footing vis a vis spending my entire 62 years of life. Some cutting would be a good thing.

Why not mention the social programs as well? Say what you will about defense but at least the people working in defense is making it worth it for the people who stay home and watch Jerry Springer all night and then sleep late the next day, start watching tv for the constant commercials from lawyers wanting to sue for taking a bad medication. Oh well, maybe I'll get to do that in a few weeks.

Maybe the car bombers will wait to start blowing up cafe's on the street corners in the United States. Hopefully Obama can tell his terrorist friends to wait until he is out of office before a plane is crashed into the Pentagon again. Until then there is no need for defense, is it?
 

seebell

Hall of Fame
Mar 12, 2012
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Gurley, Al
Why not mention the social programs as well? Say what you will about defense but at least the people working in defense is making it worth it for the people who stay home and watch Jerry Springer all night and then sleep late the next day, start watching tv for the constant commercials from lawyers wanting to sue for taking a bad medication. Oh well, maybe I'll get to do that in a few weeks.

Maybe the car bombers will wait to start blowing up cafe's on the street corners in the United States. Hopefully Obama can tell his terrorist friends to wait until he is out of office before a plane is crashed into the Pentagon again. Until then there is no need for defense, is it?
There will always be a need for defense. The question is how much do we spend? When is sufficiency reached?
 
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TexasBama

TideFans Legend
Jan 15, 2000
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The US spends more on defense than the next 10 biggest spenders combined. We have been on a war footing vis a vis spending my entire 62 years of life. Some cutting would be a good thing.
Well, your tax dollars are going to create a safe world for business. General Electric says thanks.
 

seebell

Hall of Fame
Mar 12, 2012
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Gurley, Al
Why not mention the social programs as well? Say what you will about defense but at least the people working in defense is making it worth it for the people who stay home and watch Jerry Springer all night and then sleep late the next day, start watching tv for the constant commercials from lawyers wanting to sue for taking a bad medication. Oh well, maybe I'll get to do that in a few weeks.

Maybe the car bombers will wait to start blowing up cafe's on the street corners in the United States. Hopefully Obama can tell his terrorist friends to wait until he is out of office before a plane is crashed into the Pentagon again. Until then there is no need for defense, is it?
I hope not BamaGoose. I can imagine how nerve racking it must be when you hear talk of furloughs and 20% cuts in pay. Have you tried contacting your elected US Representative and telling him to get off his dead but and do something about this intolerable situation? I hope things work out for you and all other defense dependent people.
 

Tide1986

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Nov 22, 2008
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Birmingham, AL
I hope not BamaGoose. I can imagine how nerve racking it must be when you hear talk of furloughs and 20% cuts in pay. Have you tried contacting your elected US Representative and telling him to get off his dead but and do something about this intolerable situation? I hope things work out for you and all other defense dependent people.
I've already contacted Bachus, Sessions, and Shelby and told them not one more penny of new revenues, excepting new revenues arising from economic growth.
 

tattooguy21

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Aug 14, 2012
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I'm a military member, and I've already seen the cuts so far; first off Soldiers are getting kicked out as promotions get tighter (that way they can squeeze them out, good or bad without so much efford). Another thing that kills me is that the GS positions (civilian held jobs) don't get cut, but just stay there, as they make a considerably higher amount than the Soldier counterpart. Also, our training budget has gone to the crapper. My unit alone has cancelled over 15 different exercises in preparation for....time abroad. There was a time when the Soldier did additional details all across post, and it was just split between all the units. It sucked, but it stopped the ridiculous number of unionized-ish crap civilians from doing "nothing" jobs as we called them.
 
The way the game is played in Washington is that whenever Democrats propose defense cuts, the Republicans scream that Democrats are stabbing soldiers in the back during wartime. The Democrats react like vampires when shown a crucifix and they agree to whatever defense dollars Republicans want.
Whenever Republicans propose social safety net cuts, the Democrats scream that Republicans are "mean spirited." The Republicans react like vampires when shown a crucifix and then agree to whatever social safety net spending Democrats want.
Rinse.
Repeat.

Yes, it is time to cut the defense budget. A lot.
Unfortunately, the Republicans will ensure that what is cut is spending on soldier/sailor/airman/marine pay, soldier/sailor/airman/marine housing, soldier/sailor/airman/marine health care, and what is retained is big budget end items like unbelievably powerful (and unbelievably expensive) aircraft carriers, ridiculously capable (and ridiculously expensive) airplanes, etc. Rather than cut the number of units, the military will keep lots of force structure, but not fund training it, making it a "hollow army" that will fail spectacularly in the next shooting match we send it to.
That is a long-standing American tradition.
Good statement. Did you serve?
 

Tidewater

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Mar 15, 2003
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I'm a military member, and I've already seen the cuts so far; first off Soldiers are getting kicked out as promotions get tighter (that way they can squeeze them out, good or bad without so much efford). Another thing that kills me is that the GS positions (civilian held jobs) don't get cut, but just stay there, as they make a considerably higher amount than the Soldier counterpart. Also, our training budget has gone to the crapper. My unit alone has cancelled over 15 different exercises in preparation for....time abroad. There was a time when the Soldier did additional details all across post, and it was just split between all the units. It sucked, but it stopped the ridiculous number of unionized-ish crap civilians from doing "nothing" jobs as we called them.
True.
After Desert Storm when Congress was enjoying the last "peace dividend" but cutting defense spending there were mech infantry units that were not allowed to take their tracks out of the motor pool for a year.
I would rather see the US do what the Brits do: cut force structure but keep it trained and paid. Then tell the PM, "Sorry, Prime Minister, we can't go to Country X, you've cut the force structure to the point that we no longer have the capability."

I agree with you on GS positions. Harder to kill in a draw-down and not so useful on a good day.

As for personnel, back in 2005-7 the military was admitting recruits with violent felony convictions and a lot of recruits with physical limitations (sometimes hidden until they made it to basic). The services are getting those out now. In the post-Cold War draw-down, the services culled the herd from the back. It sucked and was no fun, but the Army, for example, went from 18 divisions to 10. That's a pretty big cut. This one won't be as big, but the dynamic will be the same: cull the herd from the back (get rid of those with DUIs, bad paper, Art 15/Captain's Mast, those who are broken, whether through IEDs in Afghanistan or those who came in broken.
The sad bit is when a really good sailor/Marine/soldier/airman decides to quit. We've all seen not so stellar guys who opt to get out. You say, "He, thanks for your service. Good luck with whatever is next for you." When good men (and women), the one's who have options, get out, because they have other options, it hurts, because you could see them going far in the military and doing great things. When promotions slow down (like now) it is indiscriminate and the good guys are the ones who bail. That hurts the military years down the road. Today's Seaman is next decade's Master Chief. Today's Airman is next decade's Master Sergeant. We have to keep the high quality young guys in order to have high quality older guys in the future.
 

bamacon

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Apr 11, 2008
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It's hilarious how the Dems are going nuts about how devastating these cuts will be on the domestic side. The "mean spirited" Republicans are going to cut WIC taking food literally out of the mouths of babes, cutting school lunches, and ending school breakfast altogether, and stopping millions of drug treatments for HIV patients IMMEDIATELY. Their rhetoric, and it's effectiveness, shows how genuinely stupid the average voter is.
 

BamaPokerplayer

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Oct 10, 2004
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What about the absurd pay gap between the enlisted and officers? I don't have a problem with the pay that doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc.. make in the military but most Officers get paid so much more than their true market value, while most enlisted are paid a great deal below their TMV.
 

willie52

All-American
Jan 25, 2008
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Arab, AL
I'm a military member, and I've already seen the cuts so far; first off Soldiers are getting kicked out as promotions get tighter (that way they can squeeze them out, good or bad without so much efford). Another thing that kills me is that the GS positions (civilian held jobs) don't get cut, but just stay there, as they make a considerably higher amount than the Soldier counterpart. Also, our training budget has gone to the crapper. My unit alone has cancelled over 15 different exercises in preparation for....time abroad. There was a time when the Soldier did additional details all across post, and it was just split between all the units. It sucked, but it stopped the ridiculous number of unionized-ish crap civilians from doing "nothing" jobs as we called them.
Those so called civilians might just be the ones keeping you safe by providing hardware, software, and weapon systems for you. I can speak from both sides, I'm retired military and a "lazy government civilian". If you don't know what an ADAMCELL is or the C-RAM, just google it. I agree that their are wastes of space that need to be gone but what you don't see is the other civilians having to take up the slack so the warfighter is supported. Not sure of your rank but don't think it's in the officer or senior enlisted or you would look at both sides. By the way, our office have civilians in Afghanistan right along side of the soldiers installing equipment to identify the launch, source and send a return strike to the launcher.

This crisis is not just because the DOD has a large budget only, it's because they can't get spending under control nor can they run programs efficiently, that one they have never got the knack of. There is so much red tape nothing will ever get fixed unless some serious stream lining is accomplished. Another thing is if they don't stop the power grabbing blame game and look at it logically (I know, gubermint don't do that) we're just going to continue to spiral downward. Rant off.


By the way, I lose 20% and my wife loses 20% of our incomes and haven't had a pay raise in 3 years. You want to join that little club? But you were overpaid anyway will be said shortly I'm sure and I'll answer "grab my belt loop and hold on"
 
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Tide1986

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Nov 22, 2008
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It's hilarious how the Dems are going nuts about how devastating these cuts will be on the domestic side. The "mean spirited" Republicans are going to cut WIC taking food literally out of the mouths of babes, cutting school lunches, and ending school breakfast altogether, and stopping millions of drug treatments for HIV patients IMMEDIATELY. Their rhetoric, and it's effectiveness, shows how genuinely stupid the average voter is.
I'm pretty sure weenie Boehner will attempt to compromise by either accepting some level of "new revenues" or adding back spending sometime after March 1. He is the Pied Piper for Republicans.
 

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