[Snidely Whiplash]

Presidents should not be allowed to play with the state of military readiness, and congress should not be allowed to either. There should be a standard that no politican is allowed to mess with.

So, according to you, we should just drop civilian control of the military, and allow them to run their own show? No freakin' way. There's a very good reason that we have civilian control of the military. If allowed to run unchecked, the military can become a government unto itself, unresponsive to civil authority. No good can come of such an arrangement.

Regards,
Snidely

[CIB-173RDABN]

One of the best decisions of the founding fathers, keep the civilians head of the military.

[MissAmericanPie]

There should be a set peacetime readiness at which we are not allowed to drop below. The military is living in rat traps, one jet is canabalized to supply parts to another, and now that we need our military, it's kaput.

I think there should be a minimum requirement for readiness that no one can tamper with. Here we are having to delay a war because we don't have the equipment, we don't have the bombs, we don't have the ammo. It's rediculous, it made Bush look weak and it has caused the war on terror to lose much needed momentum.

Worse yet, it made us look vulnerable.

[varon]

If allowed to run unchecked, the military can become a government unto itself,...............

Yeah, just like airport security ;-)