You sir are a long way from recovering :)
The cold war is about to get very hot, not hard since it never really cooled, just hid away.
GMTA!
I just said the same thing, while you were posting your post. :)
Against who? Russia? We could beat their tin cans with Hawaii’s National Guard (not really, but they do have really pathetic weaponry). China? We could cut our navy in half, and we could still send theirs to the bottom in short order. Furthermore, if we let Japan increase their military size, they’d be able to contain the problem.
Personally, I think the best way to save money would be to not necessarily shrink the size of the military, but transfer a lot of active duty soldiers to reserve duty over time. We have about 1.2 million soldier in both combined, with apx. half active duty and half reserve. I think a 250,000 man active duty force with 950,000 in reserve and national guard in case of war is decent. We simply can’t afford to have the large military we have.
As far as the “War on Terror” is concerned, we should fight it the way we fought pirates: Raids-in-force. They attack us, we find them and wipe out their camp. This wild goose chase through the Hindu Kush is just wasting resources not doing anything.
BTW, if I weren’t recovering, I’d oppose standing armies. Furthermore, I would believe the Islamic and Communist threats were made up to steal our liberties. Two very unwise ideas. I’m just trying to suggest ways to save money while preserving the ability to defend ourselves.