Military Budget Cuts Risk America's Freedom

Military Budget Cuts Risk America's Freedom
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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"NATO leaders are set to activate the first phase of a US-led missile shield for Europe on Sunday, risking the wrath of Russia which has threatened to deploy rockets to EU borders in response."
Source:  http://ca.news.yahoo.com/nato-activate-missile-shield-despite-russian-anger-204128053.html


"WASHINGTON — China is pressing a long-range modernization of its military, part of a strategy aimed at maximizing its leverage over Taiwan, extending its influence farther abroad, but avoiding conflict around its borders or with the United States, the Pentagon said on Friday in an annual report to Congress.

Chinese leaders, the report asserted, view this as a time to “focus on internal development while avoiding direct confrontation,” although they expect tension, competition, and territorial flare-ups from time to time, and they do not expect the status quo, however satisfactory they find it, to last indefinitely."
SOURCE:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/19/world/asia/pentagon-study-says-china-military-getting-stronger.html?_r=1&hp

The world is splitting up into two camps, or possibly three camps, as the arch-enemies, the US, Russia, and China begin drawing lines in the sand around the globe.

Once, we were Bi-Polar with the US pole and the Russo/Sino pole.  However, even though much has not changed, somethings have -- and there is enough indication from the Chinese now that one would be well advised to expect China to move independently of Russia in the future.

And we are on the cusp of a possible regional war in the Middle East in which each of the aforementioned nations will be heavily involved.

In fact, if one were so inclined one could make a case that the world's  militaries are slowly maneuvering toward the great End-Times Battle referred to in the Bible as The Battle of Armageddon.  IF one were so inclined.  I am not ... at least for the time being.

Currently, the US has a battle-hardened military.  Tired, but extremely capable and ready to shift on a dime and move into action in a matter of hours.  Our war-fighting material is pretty badly beaten up and used up and the replacements are badly needed -- and quickly.

Why?

It appears that we will soon be at military loggerheads with the old familiar Russian Bear. It could be very soon.

"The standoff has tested Russian-US relations for much of the past decade and been one of the primary issues addressed by Obama when he launched a diplomatic "reset" with Moscow in 2009.

Russian military chief General Nikolai Makarov said this month one option was for Russia to station short-range Iskander missiles in its Kaliningrad exclave near Poland, a long-running threat that has alarmed Eastern European states."
SOURCE:  http://ca.news.yahoo.com/nato-activate-missile-shield-despite-russian-anger-204128053.html 

Many are concerned that the US will be over stretched if Israel decides to wait no longer and strikes Iran's nuclear facilities and draws the US military into the fray.  Let's be clear: IF Israel strikes Iran, the US WILL BE IN THE FRAY whether we want to be, or not.

Let us also be realistic.  While Iran has a rather large standing army they should pose no real problem.  Yes, there will be American casualties and deaths.  One would have to be a fool to expect otherwise.  But, the truth is--the US could dismantle Iran's military in a matter of a month -- six weeks at the most.  Less , if we hustle.  Insurgents on the other hand are a whole 'nother story.  And that is why we do not want to engage in another ground war in the Middle East for a long time.

But the real problem for the US military is not Russia, not China, and certainly not Iran.  The problem is the US government.

While our arch enemies are sharpening their swords and making heaps more, the US government is busy blunting the swords of the US military by cutting funding that is absolutely necessary for the US to fight and win wars.

Here's the bottom line:  Cutting or sequestering the US military budget will cut our ground forces to the smallest size they have been since before the Second World War! The US Navy will be cut to it's smallest size since 1915.  The US Air Force will be shrunk to its smallest size ever in it's history.  The US Marine Corp will be decimated.  Here in North Carolina alone we expect to lose 10% of the Marines at Camp Lejeune and at Cherry Point.

Military research and development will be devastated.  Research and development and the acquisition of new weapons and systems will be slashed.  

Look. It is as simple as this:  We can either throw American bodies at the enemy in battle or we can throw American hardware at him.  Doing the former will stack up American dead and wounded like cordwood.

We fought the Chinese in Korea and members of my generation remember the tsunamis of Chinese soldiers  swarming American positions.  Often it ended with piles upon piles of Chinese bodies heaped up before the guns of the Americans and their Allies in that war.  Often, Americans had to retreat and seek reenforcement before they could make a stand and fight the hordes of Chinese communist troops.  It was a costly war in American dead.  And we did not win.  It was a draw, at best, for America.  American troops still hold positions near the 38th parallel in Korea today -- almost 60 years later.

From what we know of the Chinese military today they are far behind the US in military technology -- at least we THINK they are.  But they vastly outnumber the US is troops they will not hesitate to use as cannon fodder. If, indeed, they are behind us technologically, then if (and when) we have a confrontation with China we can expect the same sort of Chinese troop swarms assaulting American positions again.  They don't seem to mind throwing their soldiers bodies at us.  

That's the choice we have to make.  Either the Congress and the President can make the funds available to maintain our military at peak capability, maintaining and introducing new and better hardware in the form of tanks, planes, ships, combat vehicles of every kind, and land, sea, and air weapons that are cutting edge -- or -- the government can begin, today, purchasing large tracts of land across this country to be dedicated as military cemeteries for our military dead.

The choice is simple -- and it is stark.

The facts are VERY clear.  If we are to maintain what freedom and liberty we have left in America then we are going to have to pay for it in one of two ways:  piles of dead American soldiers, or piles of money.

The rebuilding needs to begin now -- TODAY.  It takes years, even decades to get new weapons systems from the drawing board to the battlefield.  We don't have years and decades.

I have made an attempt here to lay out the problem as clearly and concisely -- and, yes, as simply, as I could. I understand that some readers will be upset with my seemingly harsh (I prefer passionate) approach to what I believe MUST be done, and done now, to secure our freedom.

Look.  We cannot rely on some golden-throated politician or diplomat to keep us out of war.  IT WILL NOT HAPPEN.   They may DELAY hostilities, but they cannot stop them.  Every soldier and every veteran knows there WILL be a next war.  It is the nature of the human animal.

If our semi-useless (I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt here) Congress wants to do something meaningful in the next few weeks, they can give the US military the funding they need.  We can fuss and fight about all the rest, but we cannot risk our freedom.  If we lose that -- then nothing else matters, anyway.

J. D. Longstreet