Obama Cuts Our Military

The defense budget is being reshaped in the midst of a presidential contest in which Obama seeks to portray himself as a forward-looking commander in chief focusing on new security threats. Republicans want to cast him as weak on defense.

—FoxNews

Today the Obama administration says it wants to cut the U.S. Defense budget by $259 billion over the next five years.  However, this is suppose to look like a simple cost savings restructuring.  The administration is claiming that our military will still be stronger than it was on 9/11.  But will it?

The biggest cut that is being reported is the number of soldiers our military is going to be reduced by.  Defense Secretary Leon Panetta listed among the cuts:

The Army would shrink by 80,000 soldiers, from 570,000 today to 490,000 by 2017. That is slightly larger than the Army on 9/11. The Marine Corps would drop from today’s 202,000 to 182,000 — also above the level on 9/11.

The administration claims our military will still be, “…slightly larger than the Army on 9/11″.  This is true if you fudge the numbers a little.  In our pre-9/11 military, the army consisted of 32 Brigades.  Our army under these cuts would have 33 Brigades.  The Obama administration is hoping you don’t dig any deeper.  In our pre-9/11 military, each brigade had 3 heavy combat battalions.  Brigades in our current military have 2 heavy battalions and 1 light battalion.  Brigades under the current plan aren’t as strong as those organized pre-9/11.  So while we have more brigades, those brigades aren’t as strong as they use to be.  Some might call this slight of hand a lie.

That’s not the only deception in the plan.  Panetta also says, “Purchase of F-35 stealth fighter jets, to be fielded by the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, would be slowed.”  That may not grab you on first glance.  However, back in 2009, President Obama canceled production of the F-22 fighter.  According to the New York Times:

The Pentagon would rather buy unmanned aircraft to gather intelligence in Afghanistan and accelerate the testing for the F-35, a new plane designed to attack ground targets. Pentagon officials say the F-22 is hard to maintain and costs $44,000 to operate for an hour, compared with $30,000 for older planes.

…and at the time,  an F-22 site run by Lockheed Martin,

 the Pentagon will end the F-22 fighter jet and White House helicopter programs run by Lockheed, but would increase production of the company’s Joint Strike Fighter.

Now, our military will be without the F-22, and will slow the production of F-35.  Slowing production will also drive up the cost of the F-35.  If President Obama is re-elected, should we expect him to kill the F-35 due to its increased cost in a year?

The Obama administration is going to continue to use the death of Osama bin Laden as evidence they are strong supporters of our military and they take foreign threats seriously.  While the president does deserve credit for allowing that mission to proceed, the proof is in today’s announcement of what our president really thinks of national defense.  He’s willing to make our military weaker than it was before Sept 11, 2001.

War is All Hell

The U.S. Marine Corps is launching an internal investigation into the culture of the Corps in response to a video that purportedly shows troops urinating on the corpses of suspected Taliban fighters, a Marine official told ABC News today.

The probe will attempt to answer the question “What happened in the Marine Corps that this happened?” according to the official.

–Lee Ferran, ABC News

There has been a lot of criticism of the 4  U.S. Marine’s accused of urinating on Taliban corpses.  I would like to spend a little time trying to put this into perspective.  I don’t condone this behavior, but I don’t necessarily condemn it either.  This is a war, and this happened on the battlefield.  Theoretically, these Marines killed these same fighters.  I think that may have bothered the Taliban fighters more.

Let’s also remember that while these Marines are being condemned, I don’t remember any condemnation coming from Afghanistan or the Taliban when Al-Quedea members beheaded Daniel Pearl on video, then released the video for everyone in the world to see.  The Wikipedia entry describing the video of Pearl’s death says that at the end:

A few more images are shown near the image of Pearl’s head. The last 90 seconds of the video show the list of demands scrolling, superimposed on an image of Pearl’s severed head being held by the hair.

Which of these behaviors sounds more barbaric to you?

During World War II, Marines fighting the Japanese often took golden teeth as souvenirs.  Some Marines took Japanese skulls.  They would boil the flesh off, then mail the skull home to family and loved ones.  There is an image online from Life Magazine that shows a lady looking at a skull her boyfriend sent her from overseas.   This practice was so common that it was discussed in magazines and newspapers during the time.  President Roosevelt is reported to have had a Japanese skull on the White House desk that was presented to him by a soldier.

We can always look for more ways to make war humane.  At the end of the day, War is all Hell.  These Marines may have crossed a line we don’t like, but both former Marines, and the enemy these kids are fighting have done much, much worse.

Pearl Harbor – December 7, 1941

Seventy years ago today, our nation was rocked by an attack by Japan on our navy at Pearl Harbor.  In two hours, the Japanese fleet had killed 2,400 Americans and seriously damaged our own fleet.  The attack on the U.S.S. Arizona has become somewhat symbolic of that day.  When the munitions magazine was hit and exploded, 1,100 Americans died.  The U.S.S. Arizona was one of only two Battleships damaged from the attack that never returned to service (the other being the U.S.S. Utah).

The attack shocked and outraged our nation.  The America First committee was a political group devoted to staying out of international wars.  It has been referred to as the largest anti-war political group in American history.  This includes those that would appear during the Vietnam War and during the Iraq war.  The America First committee dissolved  itself the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

This anchor was recovered from the Arizona and now rests at the National Park in Pearl.  Much like the attacks on September 11th, we promised we would never forget.  I hope that we can keep this promise for the next 70 years.

America the Beautiful Day 30: The National Guard

This series will end before the 375th birthday of the National Guard.  I thought today would be a good day to celebrate the Guard.

The National Guard recognizes December 13, 1636 as it’s birthday, which makes it the oldest branch of our nations military.  According to the National Guard website:

[The Guard] started in 1636 when the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which functioned as the colony’s legislature, ordered existing militia companies from the towns surrounding Boston to form into three regiments: North, South and East

Today, the Guard has been used in a number of different roles. The National Guard looks at it’s history in “generations”. Each generation is a 20 year enlistment, with the current troops serving in the 19th Generation.  The Guard lists some of the milestones different generations have had to face:

• Generation seven rallied to battle the British at Lexington and Concord.
• Generation 12 faced off, brother against brother, in the Civil War.
• Generation 14 “Remembered the Maine” during the Spanish-American War.
• Generation 16 was already on duty when Pearl Harbor was attacked.
• Generation 19 will never forget and is still responding to 9/11.

I have met a lot of guardsmen (and women) in my workplace and in my wife’s.  I am somewhat humbled by these citizen soldiers.  They enlist in the military to defend our country, and our state, from its enemies.  They also stand ready to help their neighbors during natural disasters.  And they do all of this while working at another full time job, and being someones wife, brother, sister, mother, father, or husband.

Happy early birthday to the National Guard.  Thank you for all you have done over the last 19 generations.

America the Beautiful Day 28: The Normandy Prayer

Our nation has had a proud tradition of supporting our military, of offering them thanks for protecting us, and of praying for them in tough times.  One of the more famous pictures today of George Washington is of him kneeling in prayer. President Lincoln asked the citizens of the Union to pray for strength in the military and a successful conclusion to the Civil War.  Even President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked citizens to pray for the military.

I have to confess that I rarely find something good to say about FDR.  However, I do believe this is a part of his history, and of ours, that should be celebrated.  On the evening of June 6, 1944, FDR took to the radio to read the following prayer aloud.  In it, he asked Americans to pray for the young soldiers who were fighting, and dying, on a far away beach in Normandy, France.  By midnight, June 6th, 1944, 2,500 soldiers from the Allies would be dead, and another 8,500 would be wounded.  In an age of 24 hour media cycles, it will do us well to remember the prayer of a Democratic president, and the casualties our nation had to endure to preserve freedom in our world.

My fellow Americans: Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home — fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas — whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them–help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too — strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen.