Posted on 06/12/2011 4:30:21 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
WASHINGTONThe coming round of Pentagon budget cuts will force lawmakers to consider reducing military pay and benefits, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday, raising an issue that could prove politically sensitive in a time of war
In what was billed as Mr. Gates's last major policy speech, the outgoing Pentagon chief said the government would have to "re-examine military compensation," consider altering the retirement system to bring down costs, and address spiraling health-care costs.
Trimming Pentagon spending, Mr. Gates said, "will entail going places that have been avoided by politicians in the past."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Over one hundred thousand IRS employees and these idiots want to cut military pay and benefits.
Enough is enough.
We should be leaving Germany, Eastern Europe, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and forget about going to war with Syria!
Bring the military home, now. We cant afford to be the worlds police force.
Agree...It's been an utter disaster...Costing thousands of lives, costing us trillions, not to mention we're broke, trillions in debt to Communist countries, with an economy on the brink.
What congress should do this week is pass a bill that guarantees that all military votes have to be counted before an election could be certified.
Give it a catchy acronym and push it for 2012. Force Reid to pass it and Obama to sign it.
Those senators running for reelection will have no choice but to sign onto it.
Go on, work to enrage these trained soldiers by making it even harder to support their families.
That’s a mistake no sane man would make, but we are taking about the sotero regime.
>>Our heroes deserve every dollar and benefit a grateful people can provide<<
Here’s a novel idea. Create a list, with the most important things on the top, such as, oh say MILITARY PAY on top, then the least important things on the bottom, such as health care for illegals, Congresscritters’ pay, the NEA, NPR, and the entire HEW.
Start funding from the top. When the expenditures total the taxes collected, stop at that line item.
The irony is that a primary beneficiary of our "defense" is a certain Communist (in name only, at this point, but that doesn't matter much) country in east Asia.
This problem with radical Islamists could have been solved by cutting off their flow of funds. The bastards derive their power from their oil exports to the West; if we used our own natural resources and refused to give them access to our technology, none of this would have ever been a problem.
Sorry to tell you that you don’t even receive a casket. My father was in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, and I had to buy his coffin and pay for the funeral. All you get is a plot, a headstone and a flag. PERIOD.
The only thing that the illegals should be getting is one-way tickets back to their countries of origin, billed directly to the governments of their countries of origin.
Talked to a lot of my fellow Army pilots about this. With nearly 100% of my friends and co-workers polled, it’s nearly unanimous: If this happens, we all walk. We all get out when our current commitment is finished.
We have talked at length about how the country has asked for more and more out of each of us, and we continue to meet the demand, and now that the country is getting to the point it doesn’t need us, they are ready to toss us to the wayside.
I have payed for this country’s needs in years away from my wife and two children. YEARS. I perform a high-skill, high-stress job (AH-64D pilot)as flawlessly as possible in order to expedite my country’s goals. I don’t get compensated nearly the amount that my civilian counter-parts (aviators) do. Now, they want to pay me less.
They are wanting to cut our tuition assistance benefits as well. Just as I finally find time between deployments, constant training, and a family to attempt to finish my bachelor’s degree. Figures.
We Soldiers are all weighing the possible outcomes in the balance.....and Army life is beginning to lack more and more.
Pay us less. Change our retirement program that we signed up under. Cut our benefits. Make us pay Tricare premiums. Keep asking us to deploy for years of our lives.
Do these things, and the country will find itself without an Army.
Not there to defend Europe? I spent time in Europe in the military and it was exactly the reason we were there. Now it's our interest to be in Europe because of interest outside of Europe? What are we defending? Considering our navy and long reach weapons, specifically what interest is that? BTW, in war, an airport can easily and quickly be seized and utilized.
Didn't you see all the code pinko marchers against obama for getting us into an illegal war? The posters portraying him as the Devil or Hitler? The hippies, commies and SEIU people blocking traffic in major cities demanding an end to the illegal war since it was the black man bombing the brown man?
And of course, we all saw the National Order of (ugly) Women protesting outside the halls of Congress, DEMANDING that that serial sexual harasser Wiener be removed and expunged from the rolls, just as they demanded it when bill clinton used his position of power to intimidate a young girl years ago.
Oh, wait. None of that happened, did it?
What are the recuiters seeing with the class of 2011? Is the class of 2007 re-uping or bailing out. Is repeal of DADT hurting miliary recuiting and retention?? I haven’t heard a word about this. Of course 0’b wouldn’t tell us if a disaster were underway.
“spiraling health-care costs” wouldn’t happen if we didn’t send our people over to defend a bunch of people that really don’t give a dam. I don’t know about anyone else but I’m getting sick and tired of being told we have to be there. We don’t HAVE to be any where in the Middle East. After ten years, we need to end this thing and end it now. Take all Nukes out of the Middle East and let them do what they want to each other.
>>We have talked at length about how the country has asked for more and more out of each of us, and we continue to meet the demand, and now that the country is getting to the point it doesnt need us, they are ready to toss us to the wayside.<<
All gave some, some gave all and now the government wants to give less.
I don’t blame you for wanting to walk. If the administration values stupid things like colostomy bags for illegal aliens or funding the anti-American propagandists at NPR over your service, then let barry the zero’s two kids take up the slack.
And thank you for your service. The only thing I can materially do is ensure a real Conservative gets elected in 2012 (be it Mr. Cain, Gov. Palin or maybe one of a few others).
“Were bankrupt.”
so cut out the entitlements: social security, medicare, medicaid, the newly created obamacare...
On the other hand, if we tried this stunt on all the myriads of parasites and mooches sucking on the federal teat, the cities would burn and the howls of "racism" would drown out all else. So, we'll screw the military again and continue to feed and nurture the parasites. We'll continue to pursue "peace in our time" that way for just a while more, yet.
What could possibly go wrong with a beautiful plan like that?
I honestly don’t know.
I would assume the open gaying of the ranks would do a lot to kill recruitment and retention, but maybe the hordes of san fran flamers rushing to enlist have been enough to offset any losses.
What about billions of dollars of foreign aid to countries that hate us, countries that consistently vote against America in the UN and countries with leadership that badmouths us?
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