The Pentagon is beyond politicized now.
Everyone knows it, no one admits it...
But a silver lining out of this sequestration mess might be that a wedge is finally driven between the Pentagon and the White House (as it should be). Especially when all this chicken little talk finally gets tallied up.
Check this out...via the Washington Times...
In an 11-page briefing sent to Congress and obtained by The Washington Times, the Navy said it will be forced to “shut down at various intervals” the USS John C. Stennis, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, USS Ronald Reagan and the Roosevelt.What happens if the Navy follows through and shuts down 4 carriers. Let's say they shut down 4 carriers at the same time.
The Navy’s active carrier fleet already has been reduced to 10 vessels because of the retirement of the USS Enterprise in November. Removing more carriers from action will leave the Navy unable to surge a large number of ships and strike fighters to a hot spot like the Persian Gulf.
Suspending all operations on four carriers means the Navy also would close four of its nine carrier air wings — the F-18s that project power overseas.
What happens when Congress...Extreme Left Wing Democrats and Fiscally Minded Right Wing Republicans...look out on the world and realizes that nothing went boom.
What happens when a bean counter says that this shutdown is helping to solve the nations debt or fund government entitlements?
In essence, the Navy is about to put a huge amount of cash on the table in an attempt to show all the damage that sequester might impose on the nation and the nation's leaders might say thank you, may we have some more.
What if Congressional leaders look at the sequestration-"nated" military and consider that the new baseline?
What then?
What happens?
ReplyDelete1. Brewster Buffalo vs Zero redux.
2. Desert one fiasco revisited.
The US will suddenly need a Navy and won't have one and will not have time to warm up cold iron and mothballed ships to fight with.
Marines won't land and the Army will sit and wait for transport across the largest ocean on this planet the Pacific. The Pacific pivot without sea power is not a pivot it's a divot, but that's most likely all the POTUS understands.
The troops surrounded in Bataan and Corregidor can tell all about sequestering the military and less Navy warships.
I bet next up Obama lines up his aircraft in neat long lines and shuts down the radar sites.
Aren't these cuts that Obama said he would veto any attempt to stop? And now he opposed is against the cuts? And he hasn't really got off his backside to meet with the Republicans? If Obama lays off FBI agents who is going to grab you guns? Lack of joined up government as we say here in the UK.
ReplyDeleteThe President has every department in the Federal government giving grave warnings about looming doom if these cuts go through. He has the Pentagon holding up carrier deployments even though it's avoidable if he gave them the flexibility to move money around accounts. He still refuses to do this, since playing political games with defense to get his way is more important to him.
ReplyDeleteactually the legislation is written so that its a meat cleaver approach. Congress would have to allow money to be moved. additionally it actually doesn't hit full bore until the end of the month.
Deletewhat should have everyone worried is that the workers that MIGHT get furloughed are already packing away money for lean times. you can expect another month or two of negative growth...especially if gas prices continue to rise.
but if it does hit full bore then i'll feel sympathy to the contractors, to the workers but none for the Pentagon brass. they played this game and should have been planning for this possibility since last summer.
they didn't and now they're running around saying the sky is falling.
every person that interested in military matters should be ready to body slam generals and admirals and SES...but we're not. instead we're all upset with Congress and the President. we don't expect them to be professionals...we expect them to be politicians...but the guardians of the nations security took a powder and if we pay then good. we might be able to get rid of some dead wood while we're at it.
I agree they didn't plan at all. CDR Salamander had a NAVAIR industry day panel about sequestration where the speaker admits as much.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbBCMFGNN9U&feature=player_embedded