Posted on 02/19/2025 3:12:45 PM PST by Miami Rebel
UPDATED Feb 20, 2025, 07:00 AM
Washington - The Trump administration has ordered senior US military leaders to plan for expansive cuts that could slash the defence budget by 8 per cent annually, or some US$290 billion (S$390 billion) within the next five years, US media reported on Feb 19.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told the Pentagon to develop the deep reductions, The Washington Post reported, citing a memo.
The Pentagon’s budget for 2025 is some US$850 billion. Lawmakers across the political spectrum agree that the massive spending is needed to deter threats, especially from China and Russia.
The cuts, if implemented in full, would reduce that figure by tens of billions each year to some US$560 billion by the end of the five years.
The report did not give details of where the cuts would be made in the world’s biggest military, but an earlier Post report said that junior civilian workers, not uniformed personnel, were being targeted.
The news – which comes after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency reportedly visited the Pentagon last week – was likely to be met with stiff resistance from both the military and Congress.
US President Donald Trump on Feb 19 signalled support for a House of Representatives Bill that would increase the defence budget by US$100 billion – a move at odds with the Hegseth-directed cuts.
....
The Defence Department “must act urgently to revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence”, Mr Hegseth wrote in the memo, dated Feb 18, according to the Post.
(Excerpt) Read more at straitstimes.com ...
Most of our budget is wasted on healthcare for trannies, sending teams to the world military Olympics in Wuhan, renaming bases, maternity wards on Ford class carriers, etc etc etc.
Cut 8% and probably get a better leaner military. The Marines have gone woke, but not nearly as much as the other branches... but they are. Also a think about the Marines is that they are the most lean in the budget process.... but they put out the hardest force of all.
Less money, better soldiers.
I would begin by halving the US Army. Its of no use in the mid-future and needs to be entirely overhauled anyway. Retire all the “heavy” divisions.
BTW, all those excess tanks, Bradleys and artillery, missiles, etc. should be given to Ukraine. Or maybe Poland, who can then give it to Ukraine. Or Finland, the Baltics, etc. as needed. Its cheaper than “clean” environmental disposition in the US. Just a thought. Should be priced at $1.
And then there are the amphibious parts of the USN - the LHA’s and etc. Give them to Japan and Australia. The US isn’t going to be hauling Marines anywhere.
“The Russians anticipated a three-day war”
That old saw? That was people in DC saying how long THEY think it should have taken. No Russian source ever said that.
But yeah, our military is extremely bloated. Hell they even LOOK bloated now.
Massive cuts to lean them out is the way to go.
And the F-35 moonpig is a classic example. That program is now slated to top out at 2 trillion dollars according the GAO. That is about 60 times the amount we spent on the Manhattan Project in adjusted dollars.
That takes too long. The only ways to quickly stop spending, at the mandated rate reductions, are layoffs, stop maintenance, and end contracts.
What happened in 1991 in fact.
“Don’t give me this shit about piloting
a modern aircraft
a properly trained 12 year old boy
could do that, most the time better.”
LOL.... punch that hornet’s nest! But you nailed it.
“Most of our budget “
No, that’s not most of the budget. That is hysteria.
Most of it is spent on personnel who do, for the most part, the usual bureaucratic/technical things, like payroll, bookkeeping, maintenance.
Did you spend any time in the military? I did a long time ago. If its still the same, there’s a lot of room to cut.
“Most of our budget is wasted on healthcare for trannies, sending teams to the world military Olympics in Wuhan, renaming bases, maternity wards on Ford class carriers, etc etc etc.”
It’s not an 8% cut. It’s over 33%. That’s the miracle of compounding!
And your list probably doesn’t add up to even a tenth of one percent of the quarter of a trillion in contemplated cuts.
Bs. We waste more than the next three nations spend on defense.
Of course they will do the standard thing - slash critical programs and force the issue.
8% is hardly “gutting” our defense. There’s clearly that, and much more possible with appropriate management and likely will result in improved effectiveness.
For example, I retired as director of an Engineering Technology Center in a large corporation. I NEVER had an automatic annual budget increase. I did have an annual budget review, and a good percentage of the time I had to prepare a plan for a budget decrease, generally on the order of 10%.
That actually was a good event. It forced everyone to review performance and tasks and pick out the ones that were least critical for the organization as a whole. sometimes the reduction plans were implemented, other times they weren’t. A couple of times, poor performers were appropriately cut.
This is not to say that I never got budget increases. These, though always came at times other than the budget review, and they came along with increased responsibilities. I had no union represented workers in my Center, though the company has a large union presence, and they generally had union negotiated pay increases. At the times those happened, the salaried workers generally had a reasonably similar increase. these were generally accompanied by a budget increase to cover the costs.
People keep railing about the F-35, but it works. Actually a very high safety rate when you take in to account the amount of them there are. We overpaid and that probably goes in to most acquisitions, but the end product is good.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.