Defense Spending: Are our global aspirations exceeding our available resources?

2015-05-12T04:44:35-04:00

Or, perhaps they already have?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/preparing-for-the-next-war-and-always-spending-that-extra-billion-to-do-so/2015/05/11/c94df538-f01b-11e4-a55f-38924fca94f9_story.html?tid=hpModule_308f7142-9199-11e2-bdea-e32ad90da239&hpid=z15

Preparing for the next war, and always spending that extra billion to do so

The Pentagon warns that U.S. “global aspirations” are not matched by “available resources.”

Response by MAJ Jim Steven made May 12 at 2015 8:16 AM

2015-05-12T08:16:10-04:00

I have always found it interesting the military's inability to cut spending from a previous year.
part of what drives that, we always want to do more, more and more.
the exercise we had last year, lets make it bigger and better this year - and we will need more money to do so.
I have found that working with maneuver type guys, their mindset is dont ever let money be the reason something doesnt get done (or, any problem can be solved with money).

Response by Capt Richard I P. made May 12 at 2015 8:20 AM

2015-05-12T08:20:22-04:00

Yep. Empires are expensive. So expensive they tend to eventually bankrupt their mother republics, and drive them into either gentle or catastrophic decline.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 12 at 2015 9:36 AM

2015-05-12T09:36:32-04:00

I almost wonder when we'll get a JCoS that will stand up to those who wish to promulgate the "empire". I wonder how much of the empire building is done by the civilians in charge, but are attempted to be shot down by the military members that have field experience, not just office experience.

I know I'm just a former A1C, but these are the thoughts that wander in my head.

Response by MAJ Jim Steven made May 12 at 2015 11:36 AM

2015-05-12T11:36:27-04:00

I also love the mindset that while we are out of Iraq and wrapping up Afgan (give me some lattitude on that part), we need just as much, if not MORE, money.

we, as a military, really do not encourage efficiencies and fiscal responsibility, we really do not...

Response by MAJ Carlos "CAP" A Puentes Sr made May 12 at 2015 1:30 PM

2015-05-12T13:30:41-04:00

If they stop spending on the most wasteful development project in history there might be funding for the real-warfighting. http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/04/15/first-version-of-f35s-wont-outdo-a10-in-battlefield-capabilities.html?ESRC=dod.nl#.VTGcWxqaffY.facebook

Response by SPC David Hannaman made May 13 at 2015 12:52 PM

2015-05-13T12:52:11-04:00

Oh without a doubt... we spend more than the next 10 countries combined. That would be all well and good if we had a surplus to spend, but I for one am sick of sending billions in foreign aid and then spending billions more to go slap 'em into line. That isn't even considering the "human cost".

If we would just quit pussy footing around a combat zone (ROE) and fight like we mean it (see Berlin and Tokyo post WWII) we could do a lot more with a lot less.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/military-spending-cuts/u-s-military-spending-dwarfs-rest-world-n37461

The U.S. will still spend billions of dollars on its armed forces in the years to come, even with the proposed cutbacks.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made May 13 at 2015 3:53 PM

2015-05-13T15:53:50-04:00

While there are places to trim the fat so to speak, it's NOT in our pay or benefits. I love how congress can serve one term and get paid a rediculous amount of pay for the rest of their lives. But we serve 20yrs plus and we are constantly getting the short end of the stick. And apparently the head of the military is ok with this, because they let it happen. Then the military wants to pay brand new soldiers astronomical amounts in bonuses, but they shit on their members who have all this training over their careers. They wonder why people are leaving and not staying in for 20 anymore.

Response by SFC Rodney Coulombe made May 13 at 2015 5:22 PM

2015-05-13T17:22:13-04:00

Being Politics drive more of the budget than most people care to understand any response which I would have surely would be not well received. I know our most Senior Leaders understand my point and are shackled with Following The Orders of Those Appointed Above Them or GET OUT OF SERVICE.

Response by SSgt Jonathan Brown made May 13 at 2015 5:43 PM

2015-05-13T17:43:04-04:00

Without question. Anyone who has ever served knows firsthand that fraud, waste, and abuse are rampant in every unit. The Pentagon can't account for billions of taxpayer dollars that were meant to ensure soldier safety and national security. Meanwhile, hawks on both sides of the aisle encourage more, more, more military spending on frivolous programs, redundant capabilities, crony deals, and unending global conflict. The Constitution which we swore to defend has been mocked and disregarded in favor of policies which hamper military readiness, degrade homeland security, usurp legislative authority, and expose our fighting men and women to undue harm. We need foreign policy realists in office who see the world for what it is, and are responsible and prudent when considering expending our Nation's most precious resource: the blood of her sons and daughters.

Response by PV2 Glen Lewis made May 14 at 2015 2:31 PM

2015-05-14T14:31:15-04:00

I'd say at 13 trillion plus we're way beyond our global aspirations. We should just declare bankruptcy if that is possible and start over.

Response by SPC Rob Robinson made May 14 at 2015 4:07 PM

2015-05-14T16:07:18-04:00

Having watched a Mess Sergeant and a First Sergeant "adjust" a morning report, I would not presume to put my dog in any fight at the level where the talk is about "spending the extra billion", without a lot more clean information. 'Clean' being the key word here.

As far as the Military goes, Reagan was the last "good one". Successive administrations, including and especially this one, have fumbled the Military ball. Not just financially, although that is becoming more and more obvious today and every day moving forward. The care for the returning wounded veteran and his family have been scandalous for more than 40 years. The deprivation of the trigger-pullers is, of course, an unwritten law.

The failure of our Congress to support the South Vietnamese government with arms and ammunition, when they had a willing army in the field, and in betrayal of the Paris Peace Accords, was the highest example of duplicity and cowardice that I had ever witnessed until a seated POTUS said, "That depends on what the definition of is is."

Moving to Senior Command, too many Senior Commanders seem to lose focus on the principles of Duty, Honor, Country when they start breathing the air-conditioned air around the JCS. They lose their starch and become politicians--- new, inept politicians.

A majority of the uniformed officers of this nation knew by 1965 that our indicated course of action in Vietnam was wrong. Command failed, and we are paying to this day, across the board, for those bad decisions. In figures quoted by the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the number of suicides among Vietnam veterans was more than 100, 000, or almost twice as many as we lost in combat.

I cite these old FUBARs for clarity regarding the loss of integrity inside the Beltway, since the more recent administrative atrocities executed by the upper echelons are still too wrapped in the 'fog of war' for actual culprits and their acts, or failures to act, to be sufficiently apparent to this uneducated observer.

And, forget the media. Time does not permit me to go there.

So, in answer to the question, Are our aspirations outstripping our resources?, I would have to say, "No, not if you have men of honor and integrity running it." Until these men step up the damage will continue, the waste will go on and eventually the idiots will win.

In closing, I am told by a reliable source that the following sign was posted over the urinals in the 'O' Club at Tan Son Nhut Airbase in 1964. It read: The tiny pink candies at the bottom of the urinals are reserved for Field Grade and Above."