So how would you cut military spending really? How big a Navy would you have in terms of ships, carrier groups, etc. What would your staffing levels be since personnel costs make up 26% of the budget?
Bottomline: There is no way you can cut DOD by 30% to 40% without sacrificing a thing.
How long has it been since we won a war? Every war I can think of was fought for economic reasons and most of them didn’t further Americas position in the world one iota but they certainly did result in a lot of new millionaires.
The Viet Nam war, one where I served two tours required us to get permission from the UN Secretary of Security before attacking North Viet Nam. We were forbidden to attack any place within 20 miles of the Gulf of Tonkin coastline for fear that we might kill a Russian. Whenever the fighting slowed due to the north running low on ammo there would be diplomatic discussions held and fighting would cease until they were resupplied.
Does that sound to you like we were fighting to win? It sure doesn’t to me and I very strongly believe that this was how every modern day war was fought. Telegraph your opponent Ambassador and suggest a timeout while you resupply. Politically this is a wonderful idea because it shows the mothers and fathers that the polidicks are actually doing something to protect our sons and daughters who are serving.
These days, wars are fought for the bankers and the investors, not for the establishment or preservation of individual freedoms. When people decide they want to be free let them overthrow their own dictators and be free there’s no reason we need to die for strangers who will end up hating us anyway.