Obama announces cuts to military spending.

Here's some links from two different sides...

CNN

Fox

My thoughts:

I'm all for a big and powerful military but the last 10 years have taught us something. Actually Vietnam taught us something but we still under threat from the Soviets. The lesson we learned was that conventional military weaponry is not the future of warfare. What we have in our arsenal is already extremely lethal and updates do not need to be made as often.

For the past 10 years we've been fighting a guerrilla war with guerrilla war tactics. Big tanks, bombers, and massive amounts of man power do not beat the enemy. It wasn't until a few years in Afghanistan and Iraq did our military start to adjust and it wasn't until recently did we start using weapons that are very suited for that kind of combat.

The Fox article states that in the next 10 years the military budget was expected to increase by 487 billion dollars. That's in addition to the roughly 650 billion of defense spending each year (not including additional war spending).

If you look at the military over the past 10 years you'll see a slight shift in spending to more practical weapons for a modern battlefield. However a lot of spending still gets dumped into things we just don't need anymore. The F-22 fighter was a complete waste of money and came in billions overpriced and years over schedule. There are also dozens of other projects that were to continue enchancing our ability to fight a conventional war.

The problem with that mentality is that there will not be a massive conventional war in the next 50 years. Sure, North Korea may go to hell and China may start a massive civil war, but there will never be massive tank battles, huge dogfights, or massive navel battles that we were expecting in a non-nuclear WWIII scenario.

So what I'm taking away from this early announcement is nothing that hasn't been said before, it's time to shift our focus back to defense and stop spending on offensive capabilities. The cold war is over, it's costing us a lot of money to keep our military ready for that size of a war. We need to shift the focus to the real enemy of the 21st century.

Though I'll be eager to see the cuts. I'm hoping they aren't to massive. A huge cut to the military budget could really hurt a lot of Americans, but to small of one won't make a difference.

great america does not need more imperailism. In before " Obama hates the troops"

great america does not need more imperailism. In before " Obama hates the troops"

dontshackzmii

You need to learn what imperalism is before you start spouting crap like that.

great america does not need more imperailism. In before " Obama hates the troops"

dontshackzmii

Yay! Defense! We don't need to be policing the world.

They aren't cutting any spending. They are only slowing the rate of increase of spending. Politicians are so dumb.

Since we're pulling out of Afghanistan and Iraq it makes sense but people will spin this to make Obama look like he is opening the doors for us to be attacked.spazzx625

People spin every poltiical move to work it into their advantage. This is nothing new.

I believe some of these cuts are meant to reshift focus in to new areas such as cyber warfare (something that Richard Clarke has been warning about for a number of years).

I agree Wasdie about the changing characteristics of warfare. We do still operate under the cold war mentality of a looming threat that needs to be contained which is a one of the reasons we operate numerous military bases across the globe and maintain a large fighting force. The adaptation to contemporary and future forms of warfare is an arduous and necessary process for sure.

their is more money in the military then education, i always thought that was dumb but this is America

their is more money in the military then education, i always thought that was dumb, but this is America

Chris_Williams

are they cutting spending or just trimming the increases?comp_atkins

hopefully they can spend that money on sh!t that will actually help americans instead of helping blackwater and lockheed

And to the imperialism remark above; ypu guys should think about hes saying. America has pretty much been engaging in imperialism since the end of ww2. Here come the delusional patriots.....

hopefully they can spend that money on sh!t that will actually help americans instead of helping blackwater and lockheed

And to the imperialism remark above; ypu guys should think about hes saying. America has pretty much been engaging in imperialism since the end of ww2. Here come the delusional patriots.....

You talk about Vietnam.......That war could have easily been won by napalming the jungle. But big wig politicians said no, it's cruel to win a war I guess.

America needs a big military, especially right now when our country is weak.

Are these the cuts automatically enacted by the failure of the SUPER COMMITTEE to act?

You talk about Vietnam.......That war could have easily been won by napalming the jungle. But big wig politicians said no, it's cruel to win a war I guess.

America needs a big military, especially right now when our country is weak.

ristactionjakso

You talk about Vietnam.......That war could have easily been won by napalming the jungle.

ristactionjakso

Indeed.

[QUOTE="ristactionjakso"]

You talk about Vietnam.......That war could have easily been won by napalming the jungle. But big wig politicians said no, it's cruel to win a war I guess.

America needs a big military, especially right now when our country is weak.

DroidPhysX

[QUOTE="DroidPhysX"][QUOTE="ristactionjakso"]

You talk about Vietnam.......That war could have easily been won by napalming the jungle. But big wig politicians said no, it's cruel to win a war I guess.

America needs a big military, especially right now when our country is weak.

ristactionjakso

You talk about Vietnam.......That war could have easily been won by napalming the jungle. But big wig politicians said no, it's cruel to win a war I guess.

ristactionjakso

[QUOTE="ristactionjakso"]

[QUOTE="DroidPhysX"] No it doesn't. America needs to stop invading countries and promoting pseudo freedom and democracy. Cuts across the board are needed.DroidPhysX

With the US leaving Iraq I'm not surprised at all at this turn of events. I'm quite happy to hear that we are making budget cuts as opposed to just talking about them and deciding we need everything.

Now if we could raise taxes on those who can most afford it I'd sa we would really be getting somewhere i terms of our debt and paying the bills. The guys who defend our freedom are sacrificing (they always were) and it's time for us (all of us in my opinion) to do the same.

[QUOTE="ristactionjakso"]

You talk about Vietnam.......That war could have easily been won by napalming the jungle. But big wig politicians said no, it's cruel to win a war I guess.

ghoklebutter

You talk about Vietnam.......That war could have easily been won by napalming the jungle. But big wig politicians said no, it's cruel to win a war I guess.

America needs a big military, especially right now when our country is weak.

ristactionjakso

Uh, no. That's what we did. The Vietnam war could have been "won" (Although it wasn't a win/lose scenario. A win for the US would have been a North and South Vietnam de facto) if we focused on infiltrating and destroying the Ho Chi Minh trail through Laos and Cambodia, which is what the US finally started doing as the war progressed, before Nixon decided to pull out the American troops and leave it to the ARVN (and they couldn't handle it).

With the reduced cost of operation by the military due to the scaling down of Afghanistan and Iraq, I can't help but wonder if this will significantly impact it.

You talk about Vietnam.......That war could have easily been won by napalming the jungle. But big wig politicians said no, it's cruel to win a war I guess.

America needs a big military, especially right now when our country is weak.

ristactionjakso

- Yup, destroying the country we're suppose to be defending is a way to win a war. But if we fell back on "scorched Earth" warfare then what would have been the point in engaging in the conflict there in the first place?

- We already have the largest military that has ever existed and spend more money on our military than the rest of the world combined.

Doesnt look like its nearly enough cuts.wolverine4262

I don't think you understand how big of an economic impact military has on our country. Cutting it drastically would be the same as chopping 20% off of welfare.

People aren't for the chopping of the welfare but they are all for reducing military spending. Military spending is one of the few social spending policies that actually benifits this country internally and provides equally to everybody at several points in their lives.

It's not the military budget that is inflated, it's actually the war spending which is not apart of the defense budget. This place is just to keep the defense budget at about 600-700 billion a year from here on if I read it right. This is to prevent it from hitting 1 trillion+ a year in 10 years.

Even with the cuts America budget is still greater than the next 10 countries combined, at least according to the BBC.

Also;

Even with the cuts America budget is still greater than the next 10 countries combined, at least according to the BBC.

htekemerald

I honestly don't see the problem with that. I never have. I don't know why people care so much.

They aren't cutting any spending. They are only slowing the rate of increase of spending. Politicians are so dumb.

DaBrainz

[QUOTE="DaBrainz"]

They aren't cutting any spending. They are only slowing the rate of increase of spending. Politicians are so dumb.

ChampionoChumps

[QUOTE="ChampionoChumps"][QUOTE="DaBrainz"]

They aren't cutting any spending. They are only slowing the rate of increase of spending. Politicians are so dumb.

Nibroc420

"Over the next 10 years, the growth in the defense budget will slow, but the fact of the matter is this: It will still grow, because we have global responsibilities that demand our leadership," Obama announced during a rare presidential visit to the Pentagon. "I firmly believe, and I think the American people understand, that we can keep our military strong -- and our nation secure -- with a defense budget that continues to be larger than roughly the next 10 countries combined."

Cyberwarfare and drones are the future of war.

their is more money in the military then education, i always thought that was dumb but this is America

Chris_Williams

As long as they don't reduce the number of planned contracts for SSBN-X, then it's good news.Dark__Link

I can tell you that the first things that will get axed are a lot of prototype weaponry. That contributes a decent amount of the budget. A lot of money going into company's pockets for that.

[QUOTE="Dark__Link"]As long as they don't reduce the number of planned contracts for SSBN-X, then it's good news.BranKetra

Cyberwarfare and drones are the future of war.

whiskeystrike

[QUOTE="Chris_Williams"]

their is more money in the military then education, i always thought that was dumb but this is America

lagreendown