Written by Brian O'Shea
MT2 2011 Volume: 16 Issue: 8 (December)
The deadline for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to come up with a plan to cut over $1 trillion over the next 10 years is November 23. If the deficit committee cannot agree on a plan, then an automatic “sequester” goes into effect.
“The sequester approach would virtually double the size of the cuts that we face here at the Defense Department,” said Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta. “And it would also force us to cut across the board.” Sequestration would take effect January 2013 and force the Department of Defense to cut more than 20 percent in every area, which Panetta said would lead to a “hollow force.”
Panetta compared a “hollow force” to a ship without sailors, a brigade without bullets and an air wing without enough trained pilots, resulting in low morale, poor readiness and an inability to keep up with adversaries. “In effect it invites aggression,” he said. “A hollow military doesn’t happen by accident. It comes from poor stewardship and poor leadership.”
Just one example of how cuts across the board may include cutting projects like the new state of the art facility for the Marines at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. The facility is a 32,000-square-foot warehouse filled with Afghan natives, a maze of adobe buildings and aromas of roasting meat and cedar.
Officials say the training exercises that take place at the facility put real-life stress on soldiers and prepare them for explosions, the terrain, the feeling of combat and emphasize the need to understand the cultural consequences of their actions.
Facilities like this cost approximately $20 million, but Lance Corporal Bradford Hollingsworth said this type of training is invaluable. “It is something I wish I had when I went [to Afghanistan] for the first time,” Hollingsworth said.
A Marine who has already served one tour in Afghanistan wishing he had a certain type of training before being deployed translates into a need to keep that training around, in my opinion. I hope lawmakers are taking a hard look when deciding where the cuts need to be made and not assuming a hefty price tag on a certain program is an easy way to reach a deficit reduction goal.
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