Did you hear that Pentagon Moves Ahead With HQ Staff Cuts?

If the DoD and other governmental agencies are really worried about costs and layoffs, why not lower the MRA to 50-55? That would give quite a few entrenched workers the option to retire and find work elsewhere if they so deserve, yet allowing the overhead they'd have in the more senior GS ranks to be done away with. I'm not mistaken the MRA is 57 with 30years of federal service. They could also implement voluntary retirements at lower amounts at younger ages and again this would lower the overhead saving DoD and the government money with the higher rank positions done away with or consolidated. When I came in 1994 they were still doing the drawdowns from Desert Storm and was offering early retirements as a means to thin the force and save money. This would be an attractive tool especially in DC where traffic is a BEAR to deal with. And to be honest some of these positions are "clique" based rather than merit. Some flag O has his friends with him and really do nothing other than be a friend with benefits. It happens with other senior GS employee's also. What we don't want or need is to lay these folks off with no means of putting them to work. With this, America becomes their unemployed employer where now they had means of providing for themselves, we're now providing for them with unemployment benefits, welfare, and healthcare. Dumping folks sounds like a really good idea, but dumping the wrong ones, just makes it worse on everyone.

would be ok IF it allows the enlisted ranks to grow, some how under the current administration I dont see that happening

We are/have been top heavy for quite some times. That doesn't mean I know anything about the specific positions being cut, but I have to think that the talking heads at the pentagon have thought this through. Hopefully it will be a move that can reduce unnecessary bureaucracy as well as costs.