'American dominance in the seas, sky and space can no longer be taken for granted,' admits Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel as he slashes Army to smalles

[superbeets]

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel seemed to throw in the towel on Monday as he advocated for a smaller standing army and fewer military bases
One out of every seven slots for Army soldiers will be eliminated under his plan, putting the armed forces on their smallest footing since before WWII
He also aims to completely eliminate several lines of aircraft from American military fleets, including the Air Force's U-2 spy plane
Congress could tinker with Hagel's plan or reject it entirely, as Republicans are complaining about cuts that result from a failure to rein in entitlements

The House Armed Services Committee chairman slammed the White House for 'trying to solve our financial problems on the back of the military.'

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[superbeets]

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has proposed shrinking the Army to its smallest size in 74 years through a series of base closures and troops cuts, and by completely eliminating several Air Force aircraft fleets.
The move comes as the U.S. Army moves into the final phases of a massive troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, and Congress raises new red flags about American deficit spending.
Hagel surprised some observers on Monday when he outlined a global military philosophy that removed America from the center of its universe.
'The development and proliferation of more advanced military technology of other nations – it means that we are entering an era where American dominance on the seas, in the skies, and space can no longer be taken for granted,' Hagel said.
'As a consequence of large budget cuts, our future force will assume additional risks in some areas,' he added.
That sets the table for a coming congressional battle over what to keep and what to toss out.

US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has proposed cutting roughly one out of every seven soldiers from the active-duty US Army

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[superbeets]

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The Air Force has -- but soon won't -- a fleet of about 300 'warthog' A-10 Thunderbolt II jets, which are regarded as essential for supporting ground incursions

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The Pentagon's 'boots on the ground' strength has never come close to regaining its World War II-era numbers, but instead has slowly dwindled as the U.S. crept deeper and deeper into debt -- Source: U.S. Army data

Engines at full: The F-35 fighter jet is keeping its mammoth budget as soldiers are being trimmed from the U.S. Army

 

[superbeets]

[h=3]Hagel's cuts: What's staying and what's going
[/h]The Defense Secretary proposed billions in Pentagon budget-slashing on Monday.
Army personnel: Uniformed Army men and women will fall from 522,000 to between 440,000 and 450,000

Special forces: Navy SEALs, Army Rangers and other special operators will see their numbers grow from 66,000 to 67,900
Salaries: Annual raises will be capped at 1 per cent, with general and flag officers seeing their pay frozen
Benefits: More than $1 billion in subsidies to military commissaries will be slashed, along with some subsidies for soldiers' and retirees' health care

Weapons buying: Down $15.2 billion from a planned $106.2 billion total to $91 billion
Research and development: $64 billion for R&D, a decrease of $8.8 billion from the forecast number
Fighter jets: The controversial F-35 program will continue at a potential long-term $1 trillion cost

Spy planes: The U-2 surveillance plan will be retired in favor of ramping up the purchase of cheaper Global Hawk surveillance drones

Ground-troop support aircraft: The A-10 Warthog will be eliminated completely, removing 300 Air Force planes – and their chronic repair cost – from the Pentagon's bottom line
Combat ships: Purchases of Littoral Combat Ships, touted as critical tools to fight battles close to shore, will be cut off at 32 instead of 52
Aircraft carriers: The Navy will keep its fleet of 11 carriers unless Congress fails to reverse automatic budget cuts that kick in two years from now – in which case one carrier would be retired
Chopper do-si-do: The National Guard will trade its wartime Apache attack helicopters to the Army in exchange for Black Hawk helicopters, which are more useful in domestic disaster scenarios

 

[superbeets]

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Under Hagel's proposal, U.S. military troop strength in 2015 will be lower than at any time since the run-up to World War II, when more than 1 million newly minted U.S. doughboys and G.I.s swarmed into Europe and the South Pacific

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Too quick for the budget axe: The F-35 project has hit $400 billion in costs and is expected to reach $1 trillion in total expenses by the year 2050 -- but it hasn't been touched by Hagel's proposed budget reductions

 

[superbeets]

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Not shrinking: Special forces units will grow under Hagel's proposal

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[superbeets]

Col. Morris Davis @ColMorrisDavis Follow Cuts in Army troop levels continue in new budget http://usat.ly/1fi0SE7 DOD's $30M recruitment car wins Daytona 500 as Army cuts 100K troops
4:39 PM - 24 Feb 2014

 

[akphidelt]

Sad that we are doing all this because of an irrational fear of debt. We should not be cutting military spending ever. We should in fact be increasing it.

 

[Acebb]

I think these proposed cuts have about a zero chance of ever going through.

 

[Dave007inVegas]

I think these proposed cuts have about a zero chance of ever going through.

I'm not so sure. It all depends on the mid terms. And even then....

 

[The Guesser]

Sad that we are doing all this because of an irrational fear of debt. We should not be cutting military spending ever. We should in fact be increasing it.

About time they are SERIOUSLY discussing cutting the military and some much needed cuts to our defense. While I know you're an increase spending guy, the wasteful spending on the military can be better spent elsewhere, like severely modernizing our infrastructure.

 

[NFLTrends]

Lets see this plan:

Cut the military and put 100's of thousands into the civilian unemployed.
Lets also give citizenship to the millions of illegals, and throw them into the unemployed.
Lets raise taxes and shove healthcare costs onto businesses, forcing them to cut hours or lay off, and throw those people into the unemployed.
Lets give everyone subsidies for not working, and put those towards health insurance, promoting people not to work.
Lets still give people government handouts in the form of cash and food stamps, housing, and medical care, promoting people not to work.
Lets also give these people government money to get a free cell phone, pay their utility bills, promoting people not to work.

Wow, our government has been full of retards for the past dozen or so years.

And they wonder why we are in debt, no one wants to work, and those that are working are carrying the full load of those who choose not to work, and are tired of it.

 

[SheriffJoe]

About time they are SERIOUSLY discussing cutting the military and some much needed cuts to our defense. While I know you're an increase spending guy, the wasteful spending on the military can be better spent elsewhere, like severely modernizing our infrastructure.

More "shovel ready jobs" - worked out fantastic last time!

 

[SheriffJoe]

Lets see this plan:

Cut the military and put 100's of thousands into the civilian unemployed.
Lets also give citizenship to the millions of illegals, and throw them into the unemployed.
Lets raise taxes and shove healthcare costs onto businesses, forcing them to cut hours or lay off, and throw those people into the unemployed.
Lets give everyone subsidies for not working, and put those towards health insurance, promoting people not to work.
Lets still give people government handouts in the form of cash and food stamps, housing, and medical care, promoting people not to work.
Lets also give these people government money to get a free cell phone, pay their utility bills, promoting people not to work.

Wow, our government has been full of retards for the past dozen or so years.

And they wonder why we are in debt, no one wants to work, and those that are working are carrying the full load of those who choose not to work, and are tired of it.

Excellent post - the epitome of 'progressivism'

Unfortunately, this Big Government insanity has been around a lot longer than a dozen years.

 

[Dave007inVegas]

Dependency is the name of the game.

 

[festeringZit]

About time they are SERIOUSLY discussing cutting the military and some much needed cuts to our defense. While I know you're an increase spending guy, the wasteful spending on the military can be better spent elsewhere, like severely modernizing our infrastructure.

You and I know damned well, they'll use the money to buy votes (i.e. get more cockroaches and leeches sucking on the Government titties).

It's all about political power and corruption.

 

[festeringZit]

Dependency is the name of the game.

100% spot on.

 

[SmallDaddy]

About time they are SERIOUSLY discussing cutting the military and some much needed cuts to our defense. While I know you're an increase spending guy, the wasteful spending on the military can be better spent elsewhere, like severely modernizing our infrastructure.

Savings might be minimal here because defense contractors' profits (and profit growth) are protected it looks like

 

[SheriffJoe]

 

[SmallDaddy]

That chart doesnt convey two very important things.

1. Non discretionary part of the military spending is "conveniently" omitted (that after a decade of continuous wars)

2. Entitlement spending is paid for by the taxes it took in, while military spending is not