''The buck stops anywhere but here.'' -- Barry Soetoro
Posted on 06/12/2011 4:30:21 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
WASHINGTON—The 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 ...
Yes. Such as impeachment.
Our heroes deserve every dollar and benefit a grateful people can provide.
Yeah...don’t rein in welfare, unemployment or entitlements.
... be sure to screw the military.
This is outrageous and better be a campaign issue.
Hussein and Moochelle are living like a King and Queen while we have military on food stamps!
I propose to make the salary of representatives and senators the same as an E-4.
Start calling the DC Elitists and tell them what you think at:
202-225-3121
They deserve a cut, THEY aren’t members of SEIU. /MS
Stop getting the U.S. involved in wars in which we have no national interests. We’re bankrupt.
We should be leaving Germany, Eastern Europe, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and forget about going to war with Syria!
Bring the military home, now. We can’t afford to be the world’s police force.
...since Gates is leaving let him take the heat. Dumbo just being Dumbo.....remember Dumbo’s “let the military take care of their injuries with their insurance? After all they volunteered.”
What a sense of entitlement.
You have no idea what awaits you.
Bingo.
The U.S. military should be defending the United States, not other countries. One only has to read recent statements by folks like Lindsey Graham about the "need" for the U.S. military to take care of Libyans, Syrians, Afghans, etc. to wonder when it will be time for the U.S. military to defend their own fellow Americans.
I had forgotten about that! Thanks for the reminder.
SecDef STFU!!
Theere is such a thing as genuine entitlement. Compensation for services rendered in a high-risk profession is one such.
Full disclosure: the only entitlement I have left as a result of my service is decent burials for myself and my wife. No pension or other tangible benefit; just two boxes, two stones, two holes, and one flag.
Gates is a homo-loving, ‘rat tool.
F you, Mr Gates, and all your cronies.
If he cuts their pay to less than his cushy social work positions, why would there then be an army? Unless the intent is to gut the honorable military and replace it with a task force not laden with old mores. After all, even the department of education has a swat team now.
You have no idea what awaits you.
I'm not sure I understand the reasoning of screwing people who have nation destroying weapons and the training and will to use them. It didn't work out too well for Rome, or for Spain, or for any other government that tried to cheat its armies.
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 can’t afford to be the world’s 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.
''The buck stops anywhere but here.'' -- Barry Soetoro
>>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 doesn’t 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).
“We’re 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?
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.
Only if they accept the same degree of responsibility. And write a blank check, amount payable up to and including their sorry asses, same as the E-4 does.
“One only has to read recent statements by folks like Lindsey Graham about the “need” for the U.S. military to take care of Libyans, Syrians, Afghans, etc”
We don’t have the need to protect Libyans, Syrians, etc.
We DO have the need to take out supporters of arab/islamofascist terrorists such as Saddam, OBL, Qadaffi, Assad and Achmedinijad.
A mass exit of troops over already not enough pay might mean Obama's "brown shirts" could come into fruition (and pay would necessarily go up from there, rewarding Obama's cronies as usual). Anyone got info on how much money Obama's czars each make?
Gee, I have never had a job in my life that let's me give myself a raise...I never worked in Congress.
Guess I was too busy trying not to get shot...
Man, but really on a serious note...this is just like King of England stuff. We have no say in anything. And these fools and clowns in Washington do not 'represent' us, they freakin' rule us with an iron boot. IMO
I agree. Pay and benefits for service members ain't bad these days. Toss in all the assorted re-up bonuses and it ain't bad at all.
It ain't easy, but it ain't bad.
Thanks a lot, Sec Gates. We do deserve better! I am currently on 22 years of service, and this is the thanks the Armed Forces get? I have never seen an administration so hostile to our military. Unbelievable!
Well it looks like Mr. Gates is sodomizing the military in several respects: both cultural and financial aspects of the service are being violated.
This from the man who can’t figure out how to win in Afghanistan. Here’s a piece of advice...he should receive no retirement as punishment for being a loser. And that’s being gracious. He should be giving speeches to his fellow prisoners.
Before we chop the military budget, and especially troop pay or benefits we need to secure the border and deport all illegals ASAP. Illegals are a huge burden on our medical services, education system, all social services, and our judicial/jails, prisons. We could save a large chunk of change and open up jobs by simply enforcing laws and getting rid of people who should not be here to begin with.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.