‘There Is No Peace Dividend': Army Vice Chief Rails Against Sequester

[unhappycamper]

http://breakingdefense.com/2015/01/there-is-no-peace-dividend-army-vice-chief-rails-against-sequester/

‘There Is No Peace Dividend': Army Vice Chief Rails Against Sequester
By Richard Whittle on January 29, 2015 at 10:18 AM

ARLINGTON: Across-the-board budget cuts have already forced the Army to “mortgage our near- and mid-term modernization,” the service’s vice chief of staff warned this morning. If the mandatory spending cuts known as sequestration occur in 2016 they could “push our volunteer force to the breaking point” by undermining trust between leaders and led.

“We face a very real near-term threat to our effectiveness as a force, and it’s a law called sequestration,” Gen. Daniel B. Allyn told an Association of the United States Army (AUSA) aviation conference this morning, four days before the Obama administration unveils its defense budget.

Although 13 years of major wars are ending, Allyn said, “the reality is there is no peace dividend. The world has changed and it requires the United States Army to remain globally engaged while at the same time operating with a smaller budget and force structure in a world that is as dangerous as I have seen.”

Under the 2013 round of cuts mandated by sequestration, the Army has already been forced to abandon plans to buy new equipment of many types. “We will not restore balance across personnel, readiness and modernization for several more years as a result,” Allyn said. “If we go another round of sequestration, the impact on size, readiness and modernization will be felt for a decade — and potentially put the lives of soldiers at risk.”

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And what caused sequestration you may ask?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_sequestration_in_2013

The budget sequestration in 2013 refers to the automatic spending cuts to United States federal government spending in particular categories of outlays[note 1] that were initially set to begin on January 1, 2013, as an austerity fiscal policy as a result of Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA), and were postponed by two months by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 until March 1 when this law went into effect.[1]

The reductions in spending authority are approximately $85.4 billion (versus $42 billion in actual cash outlays[note 2]) during fiscal year 2013,[2](p14) with similar cuts for years 2014 through 2021. However, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the total federal outlays will continue to increase even with the sequester by an average of $238.6 billion per year[2](p3) during the next decade, although at a somewhat lesser rate.

The cuts are split evenly (by dollar amounts, not by percentages) between the defense and non-defense categories.[note 3] Some major programs like Social Security, Medicaid, federal pensions and veteran's benefits are exempt. By a special provision in the BCA, Medicare spending will be reduced by a fixed 2% per year versus the other, domestic percents planned for the sequester.[1] Federal pay rates (including military) are unaffected but the sequestration did result in involuntary unpaid time off, also known as furloughs.[4]

The sequester lowers spending by a total of approximately $1.1 trillion versus pre-sequester levels over the approximately 8 year period from 2013 to 2021. It lowers non-defense discretionary spending (i.e., certain domestic programs) by a range of 7.8% (in 2013) to 5.5% (in 2021) versus pre-sequester amounts, a total of $294 billion. Defense spending would likewise be lowered by 10% (in 2013) to 8.5% (in 2021), a total of $454 billion. Savings in non-defense mandatory spending would total $170 billion, while interest would be lowered by $169 billion.[1] The CBO estimated that sequestration would reduce 2013 economic growth by about 0.6 percentage points (from 2.0% to 1.4% or about $90B) and affect the creation or retention of about 750,000 jobs by year-end.[5] As of May 2013, FY2013 spending ($3.455 trillion) was projected to be lower in an absolute sense than FY2012 spending ($3.537 trillion).[6]

The blunt nature[note 4] of the cuts has been criticized, with some favoring more tailored cuts and others arguing for postponement while the economy improves.[8]

..

I did not realize that this country is a Peace.

[SamKnause]

1. No one asked my opinion and

I did not get to vote on the U.S. military being the world's police.

If I did get a vote, I would vote to fire all the military brass.

They suck at their jobs.

They have spread death and destruction over the entire globe.

They sucked at protecting us on 9/11 and that is just the tip of the iceberg.