Memo: Obama could approve Joint Forces closure by Sept. 1

Virginia Pilot Online ^ | 20 Aug 2010 | Bill Sizemore, Kate Wiltrout

[Jonah Hex]

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ decision to close the Joint Forces Command has the backing of its former and incoming commanders and is likely to be approved by President Barack Obama before Sept. 1, according to a memo widely circulated to Hampton Roads elected officials Friday.

If true, that means local officials’ efforts to halt the planned closure face very long odds.

....

“Even more disturbing,” the memo says, is that Gates is considering a move to “mothball” the Navy’s Norfolk-based Second Fleet.

[Jonah Hex]

Three bullet points to take away from the article:

1. Secretary Gates is determined to push this through, no matter what locals or Congress may say.

2. Plan is to get an executive order signed by 1 September i.e. make this a done deal before Congress returns back to work.

3. Note the hidden reference to mothballing the 2nd Fleet.

By gods, we're going to have a peace dividend no matter what those bitter Constitutional clingers have to say about it because "Yes We Can".

[Jet Jaguar]

Ping

[snowsislander]

The Kenyan Clown is determined to destroy our military.

[SkyPilot]

These cuts are bad, but "JiffyCom" set itself for the ax. It had departments that even JFCOM leadership could not explain what they did. They were in the "thought business", and liked to do "studies." Lots, and lots (and LOTS) of studies. And analysis. A whole truckload of analysis for you, and for me.

To accomplish all of this, they needed lots of help. Tons of help! In fact, their old friends they served with on active duty could help out - being contractors now, to the tune of about 3,400 of them making very good money, to do all this "Big Thinking."

The only real job JFCOM loses is apportionment of forces, and that can be done elsewhere. All the rest was fluff, and the military won't even miss it. Believe me.

I am happy that they boys at JFCOM thought it was a ton of fun to pay millions to produced "Training game aids" like this one, but it is crappola - and this is the kind of junk that has to be cut.

[pepsionice]

I have to agree with this...for what they were getting for funding...the result wasn’t worth the money. And the funny thing...from this region of the state, folks will hold something against the administration for the remaining two years. So there’s lots of sentiment that will be around in 2012. If I were the President, I’d make a mental note to just forget about Virginia votes in the next election.

[TheBattman]

IF he’s going to take down our nation, he has to destroy the military. This matches so well with his so-far successful actions to destroy the economy.

[mamelukesabre]

every branch of government has waste and freeloaders. Sounds like you were saying this is a “fat” part of the military that could be trimmed off with no deleterious effects on national security.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

Locals and Congressional Republicans are just as bad as Democrats when it comes to using the government money pot to make work in their districts, whether it’s needed or not. Even now Oakland Mayor Dellums, probably the most anti-military Congresscritter ever, whined like a baby when they started closing Bay area military bases. To him it wasn’t cost savings it was “revenge”

[SkyPilot]

I think so.

I knew good officers who went there on tours. I know what its slides say, what its mission is supposed to do, and all the rest.

I asked one sharp Lt Col: "So, what do you do there?"

He answered: "Beats the sh^t out of me, and I am not alone."

[Recovering_Democrat]

Hussein sucks.

[mo]

“a peace dividend no matter what those bitter Constitutional clingers”

How did you think they would pay for the “healthcare” bureaucracy?

[Jonah Hex]

Just so it doesn't look like I posted and ran, my position is I have no problem with closing JFCOM if there's good logical reasons to do it and it benefits the national defense. When I see a Executive Branch proposal closure deliberately ramrodded through to avoid Congressional inquiry (especially before a midterm election), however, I smell a rat. Executive branch decisions should stand examination by the light of day, not executed in the dark of night.

The part which really worried me, however, is the proposed mothballing of the 2nd Fleet. I don't see how that can be implemented WITHOUT decreasing our national security.

Always willing to listed to others, however...

[tlb]

>>> The part which really worried me, however, is the proposed mothballing of the 2nd Fleet. I don’t see how that can be implemented WITHOUT decreasing our national security.

You DO understand that 2nd Fleet is Admirals and their staffs and the various layers of support staffs that go along with that? Not the ships themselves.

It’s Administrative Musical Chairs. The ships routinely rotate in and out of different fleets. If 2nd Fleet goes away, somebody else manages these same assets.

“” The U.S. Second Fleet is one of six numbered fleets in the United States Navy. Second Fleet’s area of responsibility includes approximately 38 million square miles of the Atlantic Ocean from the North Pole to the South Pole and from the shores of the United States to the west coast of Europe.

The Second Fleet also used to operate along the Atlantic coast of South America and part of the west coast of Central America. However, the Navy re-established the United States Fourth Fleet, based at Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Florida on 1 July 2008. Fourth Fleet is responsible for U.S. Navy ships, aircraft and submarines operating in the Caribbean Sea and the waters of Central and South America.

On August 21, 2010, Secretary Robert Gates announced that he is considering disestablishing the Second Fleet.””

[GailA]

BTT

[Nachum]

The list, ping

[Rome2000]

Hey, that guy in the turban looks like the POTUS.

[ronnyquest]

"The Kenyan Clown is determined to destroy our military country."

Fixed it.