Note: No graphic with this one. Just a story from the New York Times.
The use of the military as a political prop is now about to come back and bite all those who benefited from that exposure.
Pay and benefits are about to get meat axed.
Quite honestly if its an across the board (meaning federal govt) type thing then its a bit more comforting but its still going to come as a shock to many. If the editorial board at the New York Times is now speaking out about cutting pay and benefits then you can bet that big ticket items like the F-35 are going to be the first things to go.
Sequestration is going to continue. The F-35 will be cut. So will pay and benefits.
The saddest part of this entire saga is that the JCS has failed us all. The Hollow Military is here.
In a speech last month, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned that without serious savings in this area, “we risk becoming an unbalanced force, one that is well compensated but poorly trained and equipped, with limited readiness and capability.” Meanwhile, Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, told a hearing: “The cost of a soldier has doubled since 2001; it’s going to almost double again by 2025. We can’t go on like this, so we have to come up with [new] compensation packages.”Bush started it. Obama continued it.
The Wall Street Journal reported recently that military commanders have agreed to a plan that would curb the growth of pay and benefits for housing, education and health. But it must still be approved by Mr. Hagel and President Obama. In past years, Congress has approved pay raises and benefit improvements and resisted rollbacks. It is possible that politically savvy Pentagon leaders may be hitting the personnel issue hard right now to force lawmakers to end the sequester or to otherwise soften its blow to the overall military budget. Personnel costs are not the only ones rising. Weapons procurement has risen 88 percent from 2001 to 2012.
The use of the military as a political prop is now about to come back and bite all those who benefited from that exposure.
Pay and benefits are about to get meat axed.
Quite honestly if its an across the board (meaning federal govt) type thing then its a bit more comforting but its still going to come as a shock to many. If the editorial board at the New York Times is now speaking out about cutting pay and benefits then you can bet that big ticket items like the F-35 are going to be the first things to go.
Sequestration is going to continue. The F-35 will be cut. So will pay and benefits.
The saddest part of this entire saga is that the JCS has failed us all. The Hollow Military is here.
