I engaged in my own "mind reading" of your motives, which I shouldn't have done. My apologies for that.
You can question my motives sir, my patriotism, or whatever else you wish. I have a great and abiding esteem for this nation's military and those who have served it. In my humble opinion, the military get used and abused by our civilian masters, and this latest outrage is par for the course.
My interest in serving was never "financial" as you stated (that was your own "mind reading" of motives). I joined, and stayed, because of patriotism. You can choose to believe that or not. I really don't care.
Military spending is not what is bankrupting this nation. Does all spending need to decrease? Yes. Has the military already paid it's "fair share?" It sure has enough pounds of flesh taken from it lately, with no decrease in mission, and no other entitlement or government programs have coughed up to the same degree. Moreover, sequestration takes 50% of the cuts from 17% of the budget, and hte military is constitutional. Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, TANF, Section 8, Social Security, and SSDI are not. They pay nothing towards this latest cut.
Thank you for returning to rational budget discussion.
All things must be cut. There is just not enough money to pay for it all.
Agreeing that a defense budget should be cut does not say that nothing else should be cut. That is an overused debate tactic for any announced cut for anything. Sure, in this administration, it’s probably the outcome, but I doubt even defense budgets will suffer to the extent that it could even remotely be described as “gutting”.
I don’t take the personal stuff too personal for long, and I can dish out as well as I take. No permanent offense taken or intended. You’re just as much of an asshole as me, and I mean that as a compliment.