The Pentagon is not your friend
The other day, I wrote about “the military’s greatest advocate”, Virginia Senator James Webb and his hearings seeking a freeze on military pay and compensation. Today, the Washington Post reports that he has some fellow travelers in that regard.
Congress has been so determined to take care of troops and their families that for several years running it has overruled the Pentagon and mandated more-generous pay raises than requested by the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. It has also rejected attempts by the Pentagon to slow soaring health-care costs — which Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has said are “eating us alive” — by raising co-pays or premiums.
Now, Pentagon officials see fiscal calamity.
In the midst of two long-running wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, defense officials are increasingly worried that the government’s generosity is unsustainable and that it will leave them with less money to buy weapons and take care of equipment.
Yeah, now there’s a problem. After a year of spending as much money as fast as they can to shove a liberal agenda down America’s throat, suddenly we can’t pay for the actual things government should do – like provide for the common defense. And what’s first on the chopping block? Military compensation. I don’t see anyone mentioning how we spend too much money on medicare or food stamps. There’s no mention of the bloated federal bureaucracy regarding the useless-ass Education Department. No one is suggesting that we slash the redundancy in the Commerce Department, or the utter idiocy of the EPA.
Nope they head straight for the pocketbooks of the troops and their families.
Well, actually, they targeted military retirees and Social Security recipients this year when there was no cost of living increase for those groups this year, which means when the “Obama tax cut” expired, military retirees and Social Security recipients actually experienced a drop in their pay. So the military is next. Can’t cut the pay of bureaucrats or welfare recipients can we? Nope, they complain, whereas the military doesn’t and seniors are so senile, they won’t even notice.
I warned back in 2008 that Obama would slash military compensation, but nimrods like IAVA and Vote Vets declared that in the first year of his administration, Obama has been better to veterans than any other president, and I’ll concede that – but just like his “tax cut” last year, it was smoke and mirrors. We were set up, we got complacent and now we’re going to get screwed. And IAVA and VoteVets will still rest their support of Obama on his first year in office.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Congress sucks, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by ArlingtonCounty News. ArlingtonCounty News said: The Pentagon is not your friend http://is.gd/c09j8 […]
Yeah I got my retirement cut this year. While reducing military spending during time of peace is normal, it’s hard to fathom reducing compensation during a time of war without a draft. Unless Rangel has suddenly been forgiven I don’t see that happening at all. Retirees are some of your best advertising for the Armed Services. Then again most of them go to the conservative side, so the present administration couldn’t care less.
can’t wait till you write an article explaining how this happens every year under every administration and congress. Alarmist?
As a US Army retired person, I am concerned about the growing conpensation (pay, benefits, medicare, retirement) our congressmen are receiving. I think we should look into this matter and make cutbacks to all. I wonder how they would feel if something like that happened to them constantly.
ash–seems to me that under Klintoon, I had exactly ONE payraise that kept pace with inflation. I certainly won’t ever hear you bemoaning that fact.
No one seems to remember that year after year, whenever there has been a proposed increase in military compensation “to catch up” with the rest of the workforce Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD) the House Majority Leader has been right there leading the fight to make sure that ALL civil servants got the same increase as the military for “fairness”. This, of course, was not driven by some perceived inequity, but rather by the fact that a large majority of his constituents (the people who elecrt him to Congress) are civil servants and he’s just bringing home the bacon.
There doesn’t seem to be any understanding in the Congress that there is a difference between the civil service and the military. They don’t know that civil servants don’t get shot at, or face regular deployments to a combat zone, or regularly get sent to sea or on unaccompanied tours around the world. And civil servants don’t have to move every couple of years. Or stand watches 24/7 every day of the year.
I could go on and on, but you get the drift.
I’m not against civil servants (except there’s way to many of them) but there’s no valid reason in the world that they have been able to piggy back raises year after year on the back of the military.
Instead of bitching about military compensation being too much the politicians might look at cutting the civil service by 30 to 50 percent and getting the government out of every aspect of our lives.
“I warned back in 2008 …” I believe I recall that, and there was never any doubt in my military mind that he would, if elected.
WAY too many Americans drank the Obama flavored Kool-Aid and voted this clown into the Office of President. He’s nothing more than smoke and mirrors and BS.
If those ne’er do wells in Congress were truly concerned about costs, they’d cut their own pay, along with the entire Federal bureaucracy, by 30%. And I mean pensions, too. But the weeping and wailing would reach biblical proportions, so that’ll never happen with the POTUS and Congress we have.
I gotta stop before I say something I’ll regret. This really chaps my hips.
Evidently Gates is on board with this almost, But he put a different spin on it. According to an article on Yahoo, he wants to go after the Top heavy Brass and cut out alot of the Uneeded Hardware, etc. As far as messing with the retirements I’m not sure about that (as far as Gates is concerned). I sure hope this is wrong and won’t happen. Hell as a retired “Tradional Guardsman” I’ll be lucky to even see my retired pay, having severe C.A.D. at 52 yrs of age and having to wait till I’m 60-62 to collect I’ve got about a 40-60 chance of collecting. Even if I do will the gov’t even be able to pay it. So much for HOPE and CHANGE. Hey Congress Critters how about cutting your own pay and benefits and ending some of your B.S. entitlement programs are Unconstitutional and worring more about the providing for the Common Defense.
If the Pentagon cut some of the excessive staff they and every other level of headquarter units have, then maybe you could pay people what they deserve.