[SkyPilot]

Thanks for doing the heavy lifting. The ignorance of some of the Low Information FReepers on this thread and other places is truly stunning.

No worries. I served 21 years myself in the military, and what I am witnessing transpire today both shocks and horrifies me.

I think there are two factors at work here - ignorance of the real facts compounded by personal fear.

Many Freepers might be Conservatives, but that is a very broad term. Some are evangelical Christians, some are really Libertarians, some are fiscal Conservatives, some care about social issues, some are pro-Defense, and some are a combination.

The bottom line for many is they know spending is out of control, but they don't care, as long as "something" is done. Even if it guts Defense. Let me tell you something, when the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the House and Senate Armed Services Committees last week that this was going to be devastating to the US military, they were not joking.

Congress knows that 2/3rds of the budget is mandatory, and the Democrats and Obama will walk over broken glass before they see the "takers" accept less - even that is a minimal sacrifice.

So they went after the 1/3rd of discretionary spending, put the greatest burden on Defense, exempted military pay and much of the procurement funds cannot be touched this far into the fiscal year - so Operations and Maintenance will be gutted. Literally.

80% of our Brigade Combat Teams will not be trained for combat. Ships will be taken out of service (it may take 10 months to get some of them back in commission IF there is future money!) Research and Development will be a shadow of what it was. TRICARE for military, veterans, and their families will be in big, big trouble financially.

When I was on active duty and overseas, I had a eye injury while on duty (I was a pilot). I nearly lost sight in one eye. The medical staff that took care of me were DoD civilian nurses and doctors.

These are the kinds of people who will be furloughed - and it makes me sick.

What kind of society have we become where the Food Stamp crowd has all they need and more, and Americans who serve and sacrifice are left out in the cold?

For many here, their own fears rule the roost. They are unemployed or under employed. They fear their Social Security or other entitlements will be affected if Sequestration is avoided, so they join the cheers to keep the cuts in place. Or, they have been hurt financially, and they want to see others hurt. For many others, I think they are just plain sick and tired of getting raped on taxes and see any cuts (even bad ones) as welcome news.

I don't know if we are in the last days or not, but these words from Christ ring true to me for today:

"Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold."
Matthew 24:12

We are a sick, evil society. This is not Ronald Reagan's American anymore. He would NEVER have allowed this to happen to the military. Our current crop of Republican leaders will.

[B4Ranch]

>>For many here, their own fears rule the roost.<<

I am willing to let you take my SSI if you would be willing to shut down all the military bases that we have in foreign countries that are no longer true allies.

I can’t think of a war that has been fought efficiently during my lifetime. We should have brought our troops home from Germany after the wall came down. And South Korea after the war ended. Viet Nam was a waste of time, money and lives along with Iraq and Afghanistan.

We need to stop trying to be the world’s policeman. Hell, we can’t even protect American women in America but we demand the right to protect every other race. Show me we can protect our own borders and maybe I’ll let you protect somebody elses too.

[sauropod]

Let me tell you something, when the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the House and Senate Armed Services Committees last week that this was going to be devastating to the US military, they were not joking.

I can't tell you precisely where I work but I am definitely seeing the effects of the threat of sequester for about the past month.

Right now nothing is being purchased. No one is traveling. Lots of weapons systems on the chopping block.

There has to be a better way.

[P-Marlowe]

These are the kinds of people who will be furloughed - and it makes me sick.

A furlough is not a termination. These people will still have jobs even though the government really doesn't have any money to pay them. In the private sector when there is no money to pay the employees they don't get furloughs, they get fired.

The problem with any cuts in federal spending is that someone's ox needs to be gored.

If we don't start cutting then we have no future. I think all federal workers should be furloughed. The alternative is to fire them or go bankrupt.

[Eric Blair 2084]

I recognize Skypilots writings and syntax. I know who this is. For crying out loud, McCain, if you are going to advocate for wasteful spending just attach your name to it. You’re an elected public servant. :-)

[CPONuke]

Finally, some sanity here. It gets a bit frustrating when people with no earthly idea of what I do feel its okay to take 1/5 of my check for 6 months.

[unread]

"I served 21 years myself in the military, and what I am witnessing transpire today both shocks and horrifies me."

This retired USMC Sgt. Major has his Stuff together.

Jimmy Carter, you are the father of the Islamic Nazi movement. You threw the Shah under the bus, welcomed the Ayatollah home, and then lacked the spine to confront the terrorists when they took our embassy and our people hostage. You're the "runner-in-chief."

Bill Clinton, you played ring around the Lewinsky while the terrorists were at war with us. You got us into a fight with them in Somalia and then you ran from it. Your weak-willed responses to the USS Cole and the First Trade Center Bombing and Our Embassy Bombings emboldened the killers. Each time you failed to respond adequately, they grew bolder, until 9/11/2001.

John Kerry, dishonesty is your most prominent attribute. You lied about American Soldiers in Vietnam ... Your military service, like your life, is more fiction than fact. You've accused our military of terrorizing women and children in Iraq. You called Iraq the wrong war, wrong place, wrong time, and the same words you used to describe Vietnam. You're a fake! You want to run from Iraq and abandon the Iraqis to murderers just as you did to the Vietnamese. Iraq, like Vietnam, is another war that you were for, before you were against it.

The late John Murtha, said our military was broken. He said we can't win militarily in Iraq. He accused United States Marines of cold-blooded murder without proof and said we should redeploy to Okinawa. Okinawa??? And the Democrats called him their military expert! Maybe he suffered a traumatic brain injury while he was off building his war hero resume? He was a sad, pitiable, corrupt, and washed up old fool, not a true Marine. He wouldn't amount to a good pimple on a real Marine's ass, a phony and a disgrace.

Dick Durbin, you accused our Soldiers at Guantanamo of being Nazis, tenders of Soviet style gulags and as bad as the regime of Pol Pot, who murdered two million of his own people after your party abandoned Southeast Asia to the Communists. Then you wanted to abandon the Iraqis to the same fate. History was not a good teacher for you, was it? Lord help us! See Dick run!

Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Carl Levine, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, Russ Feingold, Pat Leahy, Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer, the Hollywood Leftist morons, et al, to name a few ad nauseam: Every time you stand in front of television cameras and broadcast to the Islamic Nazis that we went to war because our former President lied, that the war is wrong and our Soldiers are torturers, that we should leave Iraq, you give the Islamic butchers - the same ones that tortured and mutilated American Soldiers - cause to think that we'll run away again, and all they have to do is hang on a little longer. It is inevitable that we, the infidels, will have to defeat the Islamic jihadists. Better to do it on their turf, than later on ours after they may gain both strength and momentum.

American news media, the New York Times particularly: Each time you publish stories about national defense secrets and our intelligence gathering methods, you become one united with the sub-human pieces of camel dung that torture and mutilate the bodies of American Soldiers. You can't strike up the courage to publish cartoons, but you can help Al Qaeda destroy my country. Actually, you are more dangerous to us than Al Qaeda is. Think about that each time you face Mecca to admire your Pulitzer.

You are America's 'AXIS OF IDIOTS.' Your Collective Stupidity will destroy us. Self-serving politics and terrorist-abetting news scoops are more important to you than our national security or the lives of innocent civilians and Soldiers. It bothers you that defending ourselves gets in the way of your elitist sport of politics and your ignorant editorializing. There is as much blood on your hands as is on the hands of murdering terrorists. Don't ever doubt that. Your frolics will only serve to extend this war as they extended Vietnam. If you want our Soldiers home as you claim, knock off the crap and try supporting your country ahead of supporting your silly political aims and aiding our enemies.

Yes, I'm questioning your patriotism. Your loyalty ends with self. I'm also questioning why you're stealing air that decent Americans could be breathing. You don't deserve the protection of our men and women in uniform. You need to run away from this war, this country. Leave the war to the people who have the will to see it through and the country to people who are willing to defend it.

Our country has two enemies: Those who want to destroy us from the outside and those who attempt it from within.

Semper Fi, J. D. Pendry - Sergeant Major, USMC, Retired

THIS is the kind of guy that we need to run for political office....