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Defense Department Funding Impasse Could Affect Installations Worldwide
December 5, 2007
The news has been filled recently with information about Congress refusing to act on President Bush’s Defense Department spending bill. Because of this, the Army is taking steps to cut operations at Army bases worldwide. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has already ordered commanders at Army installations to begin making plans to cut back on spending and operations, in preparation for what could possible turn into a major crisis, if funding isn’t soon authorized.
Some of the first people who will be affected will be as many as 200,000 Army civilians and contractors, who may receive layoff notices as early as Christmas. This in turn would create the necessity to pull Soldiers from their regular duties to take over vital functions, such as security, from contractors and Army civilian workers who would be laid off. Not only would that affect the services available to Soldiers and their families, but that could mean dire consequences for the economy, with the potential of 200,000 workers laid off from their jobs.
In mind mind, it’s absolutely urgent that Congress act to approve this emergency spending bill. This type of political “game playing” couldn’t come at a worse time for the military, who is currently fighting two wars. It makes me wonder if Congress is really putting thought into the serious implications that this could have on the economy of the country, or how it will affect the ability of our Troops to continue their jobs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Currently, we have Soldiers who have served 3 or more deployments. By removing Soldiers from their current positions, to take over the positions left vacant by laying off civilian workers, that will cause more deployments for those Troops who are not pulled for these duties.
“Absolutely, it’s an urgent need,” Maj. Gen. Edgar E. Stanton III, director of the Army’s budget office, said of the necessity for the Army to obtain nearly $55 billion from Congress to fund operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In a memorandum dated Nov. 26, Gen. Richard A. Cody, vice chief of staff of the Army, directed that all Army commanders and agency directors begin planning to curtail operations and related expenses that do not directly support warfighters engaged in the global war on terrorism. Cody’s instructions tell Army commanders and civilian leaders to review all operations and to forward recommendations to cut costs back to him by Dec. 4.
“We are only in the prudent planning phase,” Cody said in a statement released yesterday. The Defense Department has instructed all military services to review operational costs at installations as well as to prepare for possible furloughs of government civilian employees.
According to Defense Secretary Gates as well as Senior Army leaders, if the Army doesn’t receive the needed funding by mid-February, there could be serious impacts. Leaders across the Army are working at this time to identify the impact that this could have on the quality of life for Soldiers and their families.
I think it’s high time that we begin letting our elected leaders know what we think about this and urge them to act quickly to pass a feasible spending bill that will not affect the way of life of our Troops. I’d be interested to hear what everyone else’s thoughts are on this potential disaster. This whole mess makes me angry, because from what I see, it’s not about what’s best for our Troops and their families, but instead a game of political one-upmanship, with our Troops and their families as the pawns.
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14 Responses to “Defense Department Funding Impasse Could Affect Installations Worldwide”
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Hello, my name is Sergey Panashchuk im journalist from Ukrainian newspaper Today Dayli. I am writing a story about american soldiers life during theire serve in Iraq. I ve found your blog in internet and i will be wery gratefull to you if u will tell to Ukrainian readers about your experiense in Iraq war. I hope to hear from and i bag your pardon if i disturbing you.
Kindest regards,
Sergey Panashchuk
journalist Today Dayli
http://www.segodnya.ua
http://www.zoreslaw.narod.ru
The DofD has billions and billions of dollars in discretionary reserves that it can spend, if necessary, when and on what it wants. Gates’ pronouncement of impending gloom and doom is calculated precisely to inflame the uninformed.
BTW, how about the NIE report on Iran and Bush’s pathetic response? That we, as a nation, continue to allow this perversion of an administration to continue occupying the White House is a travesty.
Ryates i dont know if you are alloowed to get political on this blog (I apologise in advance if not) but really what has the President done wrong? it is ignorant people like you who Bush Hate for no reason. Do you not remember the Clinton Administration? but wait, people like you usually dont. All Bush has done is help rid the world of opressive despots and freeing people. ands come on Iran not building nukes is a joke! they are smart and have taken it underground.
People like me who hate Bush, Mr. Taylor, do so for very good reason. We can start, by the way, with the needless loss of nearly 4,000 of our soldiers’ lives in Iraq and a battered economy. We can add to that the loss of our once great stature in the eyes of the world. The latest fiasco concerning Iran merely proves a point made by Norman Mailer in 2004 - America has become a nation filled with stupid and susceptible people. After everything we went through with Iraq, the guy still refuses to level with the American people on matters related to war. Yup, stupid and susceptible!
Okay Ryates, you seem to be bent on doing nothing but bashing the military and our President. In your infinite wisdom (note the sarcasm) just how would you, Mr/Ms Armchair Quarterback, have handled the situation.
By the way, I’m pretty well informed about matters relating to the war. That information is out there for public view, if you take the time to pull yourself away from CNN and actually look for the information.
Quite honestly, since this war has began, I’ve lived in various areas of this great country and I’ve not seen much in the way of “battered economy.” Not any worse than during Clinton’s reign, when he was more concerned about which intern he could coerce into “smoking his cigar” and then of course he was more concerned with covering his ass, instead of worrying about such “trivial” things as Osama bin Laden at the time, when he masterminded the first World Trade Center bombing.
If you don’t like the information we’re providing here and our support of our Troops and our commander in chief, please feel free to take yourself someplace else, where the thinking of the people is more like yours.
Terri,
First off, I doubt you will find much that I say that can be construed as bashing our military. Indeed, I think you will find quite the opposite.
Second, I note that while our Troops are being killed and maimed in great number, you seem fixated still on Bill Clinton and cigars - what up with that? To the extent that Clinton made mistakes or miscalculations during his administration, the mistakes and miscalculations made by Bush are an order of magnitude worse, with far greater repercussions!
Third, I do like the information you provide, hence my visiting here from time to time. But, I find it appropriate as well to engage in debate from time to time ’cause, without such, we are destined to repeat the mistakes of the past - e.g., invading Iran based on the same quantity and quality information that Bush rather ignorantly used to justify the invasion of Iraq.
All that said, keep up the good work. Lord knows our troops deserve efforts made such as yours!
Look up the casualties of D-Day. That June 6th had a much higher deatrh toll in one day than this entire war. Look at the Battle of Shiloh, once again more casualtie on one side. You see Presidnet Bush has made mistakes true, and yes WMD’s were just a front to get trhe UN hyped. Intelligence has proven however that Al Queda was in fact operating in Iraq, I ran and most of the middle East. Neutralising Iraq helped our cause in Afganistan (which because of ultimate success there is not shown in the news. The reson we have lost our great stature has nothing to do with one person. It is mostly the world community. Black Jack Pershing dealt with muslim insurgent much more effectively than we have. Unfortunately i do not believe our tactics would support his actions. O and one last thing. How many days did it take to secure berlin… Upwardxs of i dont know 20 , mabe 30 years? If we had so many naysayers at present Reagan would be in the smae position as Bush and communism would be rampant in the US. Really the only way to win the war is for people like you to realise that life sucks and scapegoating one person or group will not solve the problem. Unity my friend, behind our soldiers and more importantly the mission they are dying for, is the most important factor. ask any of them why they served and they will tell you. Because i know it was surely not just for kicks.
One more thing. Needless loss of life? that comment right there is a slap in the face to over 200,000 people. Read Marcus Luttrells Book Lone Survivor. The people who died did not believe it was needless. Go to a military funural and ask any soldier there if the deceased though his life was wasted.
and one more thing to all reader of the post = ) plesw dont gang up on ryates thats not very sporting = ) lets keep it a debate not a mob
DJ:
I read your comments with an open mind and believe I understand where you are coming from, for the most part. We certainly agree that out Troops are the greatest.
I am, however, confused by your suggestion that neutralizing Iraq helped our cause in Afghanistan. I find it hard to believe, for example, that we have neutralized Iraq in any sense of the word. Instead, we have allowed havoc to occur throughout much of the country - at least in the most populated areas such as Baghdad.
But moreover, what on earth does/did Iraq have to do with Afghanistan in the first place? Al Qaida did not exist in significant numbers prior to the invasion and, to the extent it did, the Iraqi contingent had nothing to do with our reasons for invading Afghanistan (a decision I wholly supported).
As to Marcus L., I applaud him for what he endured. But, on the other hand, let’s be real. You or I would have done the same thing - survive, notwithstanding our comrades being killed. He did what anyone would have expected of him. The only difference between him and his comrades is he lived to tell about it.
As to Regean, the Soviet Union was bankrupt and Ronny just drove the final nail in that coffin. Big deal - the Soviet Union was much like Enron at the time - the damage had been done and it was only a matter of time. Reagan had little to do with the eventual downfall of the Soviets.
Finally, while I appreciate your comparisons with WWII, I believe the comparisons are apples and oranges. If you want numbers, then count the Wounded Warriors hanging out at VA hospitals - the numbers are astonishing, as I am certain Terri will attest!
The one reason that we have a larger number of wounded warriors as compared to any war the US has been involved in, in the past is the great advances in medical care today, as opposed to time periods of previous wars.
As for Clinton, had he been more concerned with neutralizing the threat from al Qaeda during the 1990’s, instead of getting himself dug out of the hole his indescretions got him into, perhaps 9/11 would have never occurred. What about Somalia, you know, the Black Hawk Down incident? That occurred during Clinton’s time in office.
Compare casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan during Vietnam, during a similar time frame. Our casualties are much less now.
I don’t mind debate Ryates, however, often your comments seem to be construed to incite reactions of anger from our readers, instead of debate. There’s a big difference.
Ryates you have to remember that Germany was not the one who provoked us into war. Japan was yet we made Germany our primary objective in WW2? By the way our plan for Iraq assault was based off the Blitskrieg so please dont say that these two wars are different. Check your history because there was an insurgent force in Germany after we had occupied. Basically war is fundamentally the same. We just dont know who is a civillian this time around.
if we had not touched Iraq insurgent would have had another beautiful staging area anyways. Remeber Iraq and Afganistan are both primarily the same, two middle eastern countries with a minority of Freedom Hating Extremists. WE are the good guys remember, its our job to kill the bad guys. No point in cleaning house when the bad guy lives next door. For one second let us say that Iraq and Afganistan are two different countries hundreds of miles apart. Hmm, freedom hating dictator… Butchering his people…. Using biological warfare…. Hates us alot.. Isnt that.. idk… we should probably do something in his house before he does something to ours….
regarding reagan, he didnt drive a nail, he tore down a wall and a nation, that even bankrupt, still had nukes pointed at us the whole time.
I dont know about you but If I was put in the same situation as Mr. Luttrell I would have become K.i.a. in seconds. The physical and mental toughness of Navy Seals far surpasses my ability of stamina . I hope i’ll never have to literally drag myself 7 miles to find water with shrapnel wounds in my leg after falling down rock covered hills while being shot at. I dont look at is as survival. Its more of a holycrapawsomeamazing sort of thing. ya know. the sort of situation where you should have been dead 20 mins. ago.
At least we can agree on the troops. I just wish you would do them a favor and support the mission your doing. Didn’t hear any uprising when clinton ordered the bombing of an asprin factory and called off the assasination attemps of Osama Bin Laden several times.
almost forgot. What is astonishing is that after losing limbs soldiers are going back to do a second tour of duty.
slight typo I just wish you would do them a favor and support the mission they are* doing.