U S to cut almost a 100,000 Troops

BinauralJamBinauralJam Posts: 14,158
edited January 2012 in A Moving Train
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16751973

The US will have a "smaller, leaner" military, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta says, with almost 100,000 US Army and Marine Corps troops cut.

Announcing plans to restructure the military, Mr Panetta said the US would retain the ability to defeat "any enemy on land" and boost special forces.

The Pentagon is facing cuts of $487bn (£310bn) over the next 10 years.

Over five years, 92,000 active duty Army and Marine Corps soldiers would be cut, with some bases closed, he said.

Mr Panetta said the US would continue purchases of F-35 jets, but will slow its purchase of the stealth fighter planes.

Focus would shift from large-scale conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan to areas of key national interest, he said, including a strengthened commitment in Asia.

"Our approach was to use this as an opportunity to maintain the strongest military in the world, to not hollow out the force,'' Mr Panetta said in a statement.

Amid a shrinking budget - put at $525bn for the fiscal year 2013 - the US military as envisioned by the new plan would still be larger than it was than before 9/11.

Mr Panetta stressed the need to retain a "decisive technical edge", citing increases in military technology including an expansion of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles.

Well....it's a Start.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • puremagicpuremagic Posts: 1,907
    If DoD really wanted to reduce its budget, they’d get rid of some of these foreign bases. Yet, they go after the human factor by replacing them with drones, then complain about the jobless rate when they have just dumped another 100,000 people into that pot. Will foreign countries be granted the same rights to protect their embassies?

    http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/brea ... 6257452459

    From: AAP
    January 30, 2012 2:22PM

    Iraq outraged by use of US drones - report

    • IRAQI officials have expressed outrage at the United States' use of a small fleet of surveillance drones to help protect the US embassy, consulates and American personnel in Iraq, The New York Times reports.

    • The newspaper says the State Department began operating some drones in Iraq last year on a trial basis and stepped up their use after the last US troops left the country in December.

    The US government plans to take bids for the management of drone operations in Iraq over the next five years, the report on Monday said.

    The State Department drones carry no weapons and are meant to provide data and images of possible hazards, like public protests or roadblocks, to security forces on the ground, the paper noted. They are much smaller than armed drones.

    But the US government needs formal approval from Iraq to use such aircraft there, the paper noted, citing unnamed Iraqi officials.
    Such approval may be hard to get given the political tensions between the two countries, The Times said.

    A senior American official said negotiations were under way to obtain authorisation for the drone operations, but Ali al-Mosawi, a top adviser to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki; Iraq's national security adviser, Falih al-Fayadh; and the acting minister of interior, Adnan al-Asadi, all said in interviews that they had not been consulted by the Americans, the report said.

    "Our sky is our sky, not the USA's sky," Asadi is quoted by the paper as saying.
    SIN EATERS--We take the moral excrement we find in this equation and we bury it down deep inside of us so that the rest of our case can stay pure. That is the job. We are morally indefensible and absolutely necessary.
  • Excellent.

    This will greatly shorten the coming war, and allow more time for our children to learn Chinese.

    IF only we could completely eliminate the military....
  • mikepegg44mikepegg44 Posts: 3,353
    Excellent.

    This will greatly shorten the coming war, and allow more time for our children to learn Chinese.

    IF only we could completely eliminate the military....


    this doesn't end our nuclear threat. While we have the bomb there will be no conventional military attack by China or anyone else.

    wouldn't have to be worried if we weren't everywhere around the world.

    and brought all of our troops home to defend our borders.

    I am glad at the start...hopefully we can turn the economy around and get these men and women back to work
    that’s right! Can’t we all just get together and focus on our real enemies: monogamous gays and stem cells… - Ned Flanders
    It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
    - Joe Rogan
  • BinauralJamBinauralJam Posts: 14,158
    Excellent.

    This will greatly shorten the coming war, and allow more time for our children to learn Chinese.

    IF only we could completely eliminate the military....


    515I51T2sTL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

    I would start Mandarin, but there is also Wu, Cantonese, Yue and Min! :shock:
  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 22,130
    Excellent.

    This will greatly shorten the coming war, and allow more time for our children to learn Chinese.

    IF only we could completely eliminate the military....


    515I51T2sTL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

    I would start Mandarin, but there is also Wu, Cantonese, Yue and Min! :shock:
    :lol:
    There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.- Hemingway

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • cincybearcatcincybearcat Posts: 16,072
    Excellent.

    This will greatly shorten the coming war, and allow more time for our children to learn Chinese.

    IF only we could completely eliminate the military....


    515I51T2sTL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

    I would start Mandarin, but there is also Wu, Cantonese, Yue and Min! :shock:

    I freakin love their oranges.
    hippiemom = goodness
  • Excellent.

    This will greatly shorten the coming war, and allow more time for our children to learn Chinese.

    IF only we could completely eliminate the military....


    515I51T2sTL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

    I would start Mandarin, but there is also Wu, Cantonese, Yue and Min! :shock:


    Im going w the Mandarin... My buddy from college- Taiwanese, speaks Mandarin- he offered to help me, so I can translate when the Red Army gets here. Somebody's gonna have to help Barack explain to Jintao how to work the White House stereo...
  • Drowned OutDrowned Out Posts: 6,056
    Excellent.

    This will greatly shorten the coming war, and allow more time for our children to learn Chinese.

    IF only we could completely eliminate the military....
    fear, fear, fear....
  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 22,130
    fear, fear, fear....
    090310_guineasaurusrex2.jpg
    There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.- Hemingway

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • Drowned OutDrowned Out Posts: 6,056
    fear, fear, fear....
    090310_guineasaurusrex2.jpg
    :lol::lol::lol::lol:
    that's awesome!
  • josevolutionjosevolution Posts: 28,259
    Great ....
    jesus greets me looks just like me ....
  • CosmoCosmo Posts: 12,219
    I thought that if anyone would be happy about this... it would be those people who want to cut the size of government. I mean, aren't soldiers paid by our government? Are they government employees? If they aren't... then, who is paying their salaries and benefits? You'd think the 'smaller government' people would be happy with reducing the government's payroll by 100,000... and cut the liability of those government employee's entitlement programs.
    Allen Fieldhouse, home of the 2008 NCAA men's Basketball Champions! Go Jayhawks!
    Hail, Hail!!!
  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 22,130
    Cosmo wrote:
    I thought that if anyone would be happy about this... it would be those people who want to cut the size of government. I mean, aren't soldiers paid by our government? Are they government employees? If they aren't... then, who is paying their salaries and benefits? You'd think the 'smaller government' people would be happy with reducing the government's payroll by 100,000... and cut the liability of those government employee's entitlement programs.
    no cosmo, i think you got that backwards...

    remember, it is ok to spend a trillion dollars to blow up countries and murder people. that is called good ol' fashioned capitalism....if you spent a trillion trying to help people and save lives it is called socialism...

    you know better than that..

    ;)
    There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.- Hemingway

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • ByrnzieByrnzie Posts: 21,037
    I would start Mandarin, but there is also Wu, Cantonese, Yue and Min! :shock:


    There's a lot more than that. Every area has it's own dialect. There are officially 292 individual Chinese languages, and thousands of dialects.
  • SmellymanSmellyman Asia Posts: 4,517
    Excellent.

    This will greatly shorten the coming war, and allow more time for our children to learn Chinese.

    IF only we could completely eliminate the military....


    515I51T2sTL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

    I would start Mandarin, but there is also Wu, Cantonese, Yue and Min! :shock:


    Im going w the Mandarin... My buddy from college- Taiwanese, speaks Mandarin- he offered to help me, so I can translate when the Red Army gets here. Somebody's gonna have to help Barack explain to Jintao how to work the White House stereo...

    a friend? Taiwanese?


    I kid, I kid.......
  • Byrnzie wrote:
    I would start Mandarin, but there is also Wu, Cantonese, Yue and Min! :shock:


    There's a lot more than that. Every area has it's own dialect. There are officially 292 individual Chinese languages, and thousands of dialects.


    Thank you for googling that.
  • JonnyPistachioJonnyPistachio Florida Posts: 10,211
    Byrnzie wrote:
    I would start Mandarin, but there is also Wu, Cantonese, Yue and Min! :shock:


    There's a lot more than that. Every area has it's own dialect. There are officially 292 individual Chinese languages, and thousands of dialects.


    Thank you for googling that.

    You don't suspect that knowledge might come from the fact that under his avatar it says: Location: China?
    :roll:

    Byrnzie, do you speak some Chinese? I find it very interesting how you've adjusted to their culture.

    Not to get the thread off topic though...wow, big news, worlds most incredibly over-extended military is having cutbacks!? My brother is in the military and all he does is complain about Obama and all the cuts and how his lifestyle is suffering...I dont suppose it should be brought to his attention that tons of companies are having cutbacks and the economy is in the toilet...why should the military be exempt?
    Pick up my debut novel here on amazon: Jonny Bails Floatin (in paperback) (also available on Kindle for $2.99)
  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 22,130
    Not to get the thread off topic though...wow, big news, worlds most incredibly over-extended military is having cutbacks!? My brother is in the military and all he does is complain about Obama and all the cuts and how his lifestyle is suffering...I dont suppose it should be brought to his attention that tons of companies are having cutbacks and the economy is in the toilet...why should the military be exempt?
    the only way to keep from cutting the military is to have a constant state of war. withdrawing from iraq and starting to withdraw from afghanistan is bad for business. we can't keep pouring money that we don't have into conflicts that we do not need to fight.

    sorry to hear about your bro JP, but he should realize that everyone's lifestyle is suffering now.
    There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.- Hemingway

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • ByrnzieByrnzie Posts: 21,037
    Byrnzie, do you speak some Chinese? I find it very interesting how you've adjusted to their culture.

    I speak a little bit. Enough to get by. But they speak a local dialect where I live which makes it difficult for me to learn Mandarin.


    And I didn't have to Google that. :roll:
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