Any time the head of a huge government bureaucracy stands up and asks for less money taxpayers should pay attention. Kudos go out to Obama on this one.
Gates a Republican appointed Secretary of Department of Defense has said we are spending too much on equipment that we don’t need. Congress wanting to make sure that money flows to their districts says buy anyway. I have a suggestion, instead of spending 143 million per plane that we don’t need, let’s give the service men a raise.
There are 1450000 enlisted men in our army instead of buying 22 raptors how bout we give each enlisted member a 2150 a year raise… I am sure they wouldn’t complain. Alternatively, perhaps we could really start funding our veteran responsibilities and take care of them the way they should be taken care.
*Edit fixed first link
IMHO the best thing we could do for service members on active duty is to reduce the pace of combat zone deployments. I understand it is becoming quite common for service members to already have three tours in Iraq or Afghanistan. The length and frequency of combat deployments in the Army and Marines in particular have to be taking a toll in many different ways.
Under the subject of lobbying I found this particularly interesting today:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090717/pl_politico/25072
Corben, your post reminded me of the old SNL skit where the Russians kick in the kitchen door of a family having breakfast after everyone became complacent. Some may think the raptors are unnecessary, but Reagan proved definitively that peace through strength is sound policy. Just because liberals now try to rewrite history, doesn't mean it didn't happen.
Some may think the raptors are unnecessary, but Reagan proved definitively that peace through strength is sound policy.
I totally agree. G. Washington also ascribed to that concept. However if the pentagon is saying we don't need these planes we would rather have allot more of these other planes, does it make since to build them anyway? Congress has just shown that they are more interested in the money these planes will bring to their districts then they are in providing the military with what they need.
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for.-Obama
Some may think the raptors are unnecessary, but Reagan proved definitively that peace through strength is sound policy. Just because liberals now try to rewrite history, doesn't mean it didn't happen.
And George W. Bush "proved" that you CAN fight two major wars and drastically cut taxes on upper income Americans all at the same time. Just because Conservatives want to forget history doesn't mean it didn't happen.
3 Score + 10
Keith Hays
Those horrible upper-income Americans. Why do we even allow them to go free? Bastards.
The pentagon does not want a lot of stuff Congress makes them buy just so their members can get elected/re-elected. A good example is the multi dollars spent for new barracks during the Reagan years. Fort Ben Harrison on the East side of Indy was one site for these new facilities. Soldiers never occupied these facilities, then the Army closed the whole installation and BRAC'd it along with dozens of other places.
The F-22 is a great aircraft that can out fight anything else on the planet - but is it what is needed now to face? It is expensive to maintain and eats up resources that could be used elsewhere. Much of the Air Force would rather move on to the F-35 - the replacement for the F-16 - but pork is the issue - with a Congress that has been willing to force the military to purchase items not wanted - and then ordered them based at specific points to ensure that bases remain open. C-130's have been an item that has falled into this catagory
Its the same Congress that ordered Navy Yards to stop building warships - so that all ships are built in private yards where cost overruns are all too common - back some 50 years ago - the Navy built about 20% of its vessels in Naval Yards - which served as a check on what costs in private shipyards could be - as the lead ship came out of a Navy Yard - and private shipbuilders had to keep costs in line, Now the Navy gets handed ships that they may not want - because we need to keep shipyards in Mississippi open
The change in warfare is difficult for elements within the military to deal with - as with any organization with a corporate structure. A friend on tour at Nellis reported that the pilots which fly the overseas Predators there which are based in the mideast are held to flight standards - even though the pilots are sitting in a cubicle in Nevada flying via a satillite link. Hence a pilot who broke a leg in a weekend ski accident was down checked from serving as a Predator pilot on the theory that if he could not fly his F-16 with a broken leg - he could not fly a Predator.
I think that Gates has been - and is doing a great job as Sec of Defense. I hope that he is aboe to make Congress understand that defence is more then jobs in their district/state.
My .02
Greg Novak