Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Is U.S. Military Preparedness Being 'Killed' By U.S. Budget Cuts?

USS Ronald Reagan and USS Preble during straits training exercise.
PACIFIC OCEAN (Nov. 1, 2010) The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) is underway with the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Preble (DDG 88) during a straits training exercise off the coast of California. Ronald Reagan is underway completing a composite training unit exercise in preparation for an upcoming deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dylan McCord/Released)

Budget Cuts Are Killing Military Preparedness -- Loren Thompson, Forbes

The political war in Washington over funding of the federal government has begun to undermine the nation’s military preparedness. Senior military leaders are warning Congress that if the government’s broken budgeting process cannot be made more predictable, it will have a “cascading” effect on the joint force in future years that leaves the force unprepared to respond to new threats.

That message was delivered forcefully to Congress in late April by Secretary of the Army John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff Raymond Odierno, who appeared before the armed services committees in both chambers to discuss their service’s fiscal 2014 budget request. The Army is seeking a base budget of $130 billion — about $5 billion less than this year — but like the rest of the military budget that the Obama Administration has requested for the fiscal year beginning October 1, it does not take into account all the cuts mandated by a 2011 deficit-reduction law.

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My Comment: Sequestration is mandating even more budget cuts for next year .... so expect U.S. military preparedness to decrease even further.

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