They say you reap what you sew. We experienced this in Vietnam when we discovered we had no more MK 82s lying around left over from WW II. We ended up buying them back from the German Air Force for 900 times what we sold them for. Then other shortages started popping up-like personnel. LBJ fixed that with the draft and we instantly had an unlimited cadre of unwilling souls led by the inept 90-day wonders that were pulled from ROTC programs.
Jimmy Carter stripped the military to the bone again following Vietnam to administer all his new pet HUD and conservation programs. Each time, by not paying the piper as they went, the military was forced to cannibalize its resources and triage what was left. Jimmy had unwittingly starved the beast for so long he finally couldn’t even mount a credible hostage rescue in Tehran. There simply weren’t enough rangers/Delta up to speed to handle it.
Reagan entered the picture in the early eighties to find a hollow force that even the Soviet Empire found humorous. Over a decade later ,we again suffered a haircut such that we couldn’t mount a credible rescue in Mogadishu. I’m sure you remember the movie Blackhawk Down.
Here we go again. With absolutely nothing gained from all these lessons, the very souls entrusted with our national security and the ability to project for years to come, have myopically decided to abrogate long held agreements and legislation. While this is no anomaly and has occurred to us so many times as to defy counting, it would seem that these far thinkers and advocates for Veterans would think before they push print.
Imagine our mentor, our saviour of all these years- Sen. Nike Murray, former head of the Senate VA affairs and others like McCain all signed on to yet another disastrous breach of faith and decorum. Contracts signed in blood are being found to dissolve with the proper application of a strong Congressional Spray and Wash. Think free medical for life upon retirement. Then think Tricare for life-free. Then Tricare with a little co-pay. Then Tricare with a little 20% copay and even more for medications. Finally, the cat is out of the bag and we find Congress is also considering a wholesale revocation and conversion to National Medical Care (eventually). For those of you who have not had to endure the VA model yet, imagine an 8-hour sojourn in a VAMC Emergency Department or calling ahead for an appointment and being told they can get you right in- in six week- for that septic arthritis and here’s some Clindamycin and Ibuprophen in the interim.
When did it become appropriate and necessary to truncate our military and reduce us to a third world military power- indeed the laughing stock of the sand ranchers- all sacrificed on the altar of necessity for bogus social programs. Is a M-16 in the hands of a Marine somehow less important than an Obamaphone for a welfare queen in Chicago? If one was serious about reining in expenditures, it would seem prudent to give all that Foreign Aid to foreign countries a haircut and then assess the need for reducing Johnny Marine’s meals from three squares to two.
The downside to all this is perfectly illustrated in this article. Remember always President George Washington’s admonition as he retired to Mount Vernon at the end of his storied career.
“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation.”
Gosh, does that have to be appended to the preface of every bill that eviscerates our Military and Veterans? If so, it would almost be capable of being memorized by now by all the patriotic members of Congress-assuming such animals exist.
Air Force pilots with a lot of experience are departing in droves and cross-training out of F-15s into 737s. It’s sure not because they like driving a milk truck instead of a Ferrari. The choice is merely one of last resort ahead of a squeeze play in the future that will find them superfluous. It’s always advantageous to have a plan than be part of someone else’s plan that doesn’t involve you anymore. The downside is glaring. You can’t draft a fighter pilot. You have to spends millions and invest years teaching him his trade. His intrinsic worth is in the air-not in a classroom saving JP-4.
Here’s the one who taught me all this- my Dad. Yep. He and my Uncle and Grandfather whose name I bear are why I signed up. I can’t say it will continue to run in the family though-especially in light of what we continue to see as “military policy”.
Summer 1966 Tan Son Nhut AB. Note the 20mm gun pod in the centerline station. Integral, inline guns were 86’d from the final AF production model by McNamara as being “archaic”. He was more interested in how many bombs it could carry.
Commander, 4th TFW (1963) in front of another McNamara abortion – the Foxtrot 105C also known as a Thud.
The last true fighter plane until
they came out with the F-15
asknod
Bethanie Spangenberg
kcraveiro
robinhoodesqvetsatty
Wesley McCauley
Veterans Claims Help 
Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them. SAD TO SAY
The reason THEY want everybody to have Cell Phones is for Tracking,you can be found in 1 sec, you have to know where your Cattle is.
Speaking of hostages, the movie Argo showed how unimportant the lives of hostages were to the WH.
The phones for welfare actually started in the Bush administration
Actually it began under Reagan. Unfortunately, a well-intentioned program for a defined few in need was expanded beyond any semblance of reality. Currently, there are millions of phones out there with some on assistance bragging they have more than one. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323511804578296001368122888
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/12/eleven-companies-fined-90-million-in-obama-phone-fraud-scandal-video/
Bush may be guilty of many things but this isn’t one of them. The program is rife with corruption and another example of what Big Government can (and cannot) do for us. However, this has nothing to do with the state our military is in. I pointed it out merely as an example of where we can trim our expenses to ensure our troops have more, or at least, adequate assets to do their job.
I’m okay with the phone program when only truly eligible people get them. The phone companies deserve to be fined for their lax sign up procedures. But I think that homeless people, for example, should be allowed basic cell phone service. Or unemployed people seeking work must have a way for people to contact them because they may not be able to afford the luxury of high speed internet–of their credit may exclude them if they’ve fallen behind. The phone companies are to blame here because of their mismanagement. This will get tightened up and should work better in the future.
Our national security has been sold out by global corporates along with our nation’s wealth and technology a cornerstone of national defense. Some of our leadership may think that China will never go to war in the Pacific Basin? China is still ran by the communist for which some of our countrymen choose to ignore. Thanks for the articles.
HELL Carter wouldnt even run the A/C at the white house. P
When I joined the Army in 1978, I was coming out of 5 years of Hard core Military Acadamy, It was the Carter years and I was Shocked when I got to Germany, I had a secret Clearence and was sitting in a Nike Site 100 miles back from the Line in the sand, Nobody cared, when the Hostages got taken, We went on Red 24hr duty, ready to fire the Big One,this went on for seems like months, we were all Burned out, The Day Reagan took office, the Shit stopped, I felt like I was in the REAL ARMY for once. Everything got Better, To see it happen again Pisses me off, If I had a son I would tell Him NOT to Join at this Time. Pretty soon it will be all Blue Helmets anyway, thats there plan.
Did you mention patriots and Congress in the same article? Threw me for a second.