A serious proposal to cut defense spending

[Leviathan]

[exploited]

The military looks into all sorts of shit every year. It commits millions upon millions of dollars to projects that aren't a priority. Saying "Build me one," cancelling them, then finally deciding to be ready seventeen years after your massive failure isn't taking the problem seriously.

[Leviathan]

[exploited]

The military looks into all sorts of shit every year. It commits millions upon millions of dollars to projects that aren't a priority. Saying "Build me one," cancelling them, then finally deciding to be ready seventeen years (but most likely twenty) after your massive failure isn't taking the problem seriously. Especially when they don't work.

[The Comrade]

[eric]

"1. Cut military pay. Quite frankly, given levels of experience and education, many in the military are overpaid. Back in the 90's there was a serious concern that private sector pay was outstripping military pay and as a result the military was losing out on human capital, and having trouble recruiting. Efforts were made to increase the pay, and they by and large worked. However, given a reluctance to cut pay during wartime, salaries have kept increasing and now easily outpace wages in the private sector. Getting pay and benefits under control would free up a huge amount of resources that can be used for more productive purposes. This applies to government contractors as well. In an economy with 7% unemployment, the military won't have many problems recruiting."

This is how you don't obtain or retain skilled leaders. Army medics/doctors/lawyers/officers/pilots/critical skills/EOD/etc...

And it really depends on what skills and stuff you're looking at. Average soldiers get paid more than Starbucks employees, but... they're also more skilled and they've been putting their lives on the line for a couple of bullshit wars. Also work a lot more. I think people forget that military service is 24/7. You are definitely working 6-5, sometimes on weekends, and sometimes on holidays, and it's definitely more difficult/stressful work.

What we really need to do is reduce the overall size, not decrease the quality.

The military does have problems recruiting skilled positions, and the problem they face is that they have to pay everybody the same. Furthermore, they can turn people away from the over qualified jobs.

Contractors are a different story. In that case neither the government, being corrupt, nor the contractors have an interest in saving money.

[PoS]

The bottom line is that the infantry is the queen of battles, you cant win a war without boots on the ground- if the army gets cut while maintaining the other branches it puts a serious damper on the military's flexibility and the enemy (current and potential) would know this. Rather than do that I would prefer that Congress hold the POTUS accountable for starting any war without a declaration of one- the solution is simply to abolish the war powers act. And if the POTUS does violate the constitution in any way there should be an automatic impeachment and trial for war crimes.

[The Dharma Bum]

Yeah, you can't really just bomb your problems away. Besides the Air Force and Navy are the big spenders in the military spending equation. The fact is we spend far more on warfare than the rest of the world combined. Obviously there is massive military overspending.

However, cutting the army and replacing them with already thinly stretched reservists and private contractors while retaining all of the stuff we are wasting our money on will never resolve the issue.

You are going to have to sacrifice the sacred cow to do that.

[The Dharma Bum]

[Dylan]

What is total comp for, say, E3? I can't find a reliable summary.