obummers mil budget cuts may mean extended tours, cost more American lives.

[powderman]

Army may have to extend Afghanistan deployments due to budget cuts
Published February 16, 2013
Associated Press

 

 Democratic senators unveil plan to stop sequestration Sen. Graham on Benghazi, Hagel nominationWASHINGTON –  Soldiers deployed to Afghanistan next year may see their war tours extended because budget cuts will drastically limit training for brigades to replace them, the top Army general said Friday.

Gen. Raymond Odierno, the Army chief of staff, said the military will be able to fund training and operations for combat units in Afghanistan now and for those deploying in the summer and fall. But he says there will be delays in training for those deploying in 2014.

If those training delays can't be made up, Odierno said he would have to send forces to war that aren't ready or extend deployments of units already there. A number of combat brigades will be deploying later this year and next year, even as the U.S. winds down the war.

"We will try to divert money so we do not have to extend people in Afghanistan," Odierno told a conference at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "That's a very big concern of mine."

He said that right now the Army is facing a shortfall of as much as $8 billion in operating funds for Afghanistan, and there could be an additional $5.4 billion in cuts if Congress can't resolve a budget standoff and automatic reductions -- called sequester -- go into effect.

Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Friday that he expects the sequester to go into effect March 1, triggering $46 billion in automatic cuts to the overall Pentagon budget through September. "I think it's going to happen," McKeon told reporters. "We have just not been able to get past the politics of it to really focus in on the devastating effects."

President Barack Obama announced this week that he will cut the size of the U.S. force roughly in half by a year from now. There are currently about 66,000 U.S. troops at the warfront, and he said he will withdraw about 34,000 by this time next year.

Longer deployments have been a difficult issue for the Army.

In 2007, the Army extended the yearlong deployments to 15 months in order to meet the demands of the Iraq war, including the surge of troops ordered by then-President George W. Bush. In many cases, combat brigades returned home and were ordered to deploy again 12 months later, leading top military leaders to worry that the force was being strained almost to the breaking point.

Over time, as the Iraq war ended, the Army deployment times were scaled back to a year, and most are now about nine months long.

Among the units scheduled to deploy later this spring is the 4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, based at Fort Stewart, Ga., but the Army has not announced what units will go to Afghanistan later in the summer in fall.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/16/army-may-have-to-extend-afghanistan-deployments-as-budget-cuts-will-limit/#ixzz2L3yuvj4I

[Anna]

Well does it not keep the military he fears out of the country ? While he has his way with us ?
In that case are we then not sanctioned by our Consitution and the UCMJ to become that military ?
Reads that way to me .

[powderman]

Love this graphic. Love it and hate it both!
 

[Mike in Virginia]

Military cut is the all time biggest mistake he's ever made.  He is either so stupid he can't see that other nations are watching, or he's up to no good, like Anna suggested. 

[powderman]

MIKE. He knows exactly what he's doing. All part of his goal of destroying us. Ruin the economy, disarm the law abiding, and weaken our military to the point that we cannot defend ourselves. He's well on the way, and he has help right here. POWDERMAN. 

[two-blocked]

Congress must be in on it with him. They're the ones who came up with the sequestration bill which cuts spending.
If congress is in on it that means that the republicans are in on it too since many voted for sequestration.
What's a patriot to do?

[ChungDoQuan]

Y'all mean the Republican Sequestration? Ask yourselves, do you really think a tax-and-spend Democrat came up with that idea? It goes back to Gramm-Rudman-Hollings--- all Republicans. It's the right's baby. Once again, the right is trying to blame Obama for their own screw-up.

[powderman]

[Val]

Congress must be in on it with him. They're the ones who came up with the sequestration bill which cuts spending.
If congress is in on it that means that the republicans are in on it too since many voted for sequestration.
What's a patriot to do?

The sequestering bill came directly from the white house. It was immediately passed by the Obama senate. The house rejected it two times and in the heat of the spending/raise taxes debates, they unfortunately approved it. Then of course Obummer signed it since it was his administration's idea.

[two-blocked]

The bill was the final chance in a series of proposals to resolve the 2011 United States debt-ceiling crisis, which featured bitter divisions between the parties and also pronounced splits within them. Earlier ideas included the Obama-Boehner $4 trillion "Grand Bargain",^[13] the House Republican Cut, Cap and Balance Act, and the McConnell-Reid "Plan B" fallback. All eventually failed to gain enough general political or specific Congressional support to move into law, as the midnight August 2, 2011, deadline for an unprecedented U.S. sovereign default drew nearer and nearer.^[14]
On the evening of July 31, 2011, Obama announced that the leaders of both parties in both chambers had reached an agreement that would reduce the deficit and avoid default.^[6] The same day, Speaker of the House John Boehner's office outlined the agreement for House Republicans.^[15] One key element in the deal being reached and the logjam being broken earlier that afternoon was U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's ability to negotiate with his 25-year Senate colleague, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.^[16][17][18] Biden had spent the most time bargaining with Congress on the debt question of anyone in the administration, and McConnell had viewed him as the one most trustworthy.^[16][17]

"Passed with amendment by recorded vote"^[19]

Vote by party	Yea	Nay	NV	Total
Democrats	95	95	3	193
Republicans	174	66	0	240
Total	269	161	3	433

[edit] House voteThe House passed the Budget Control Act^[1] on August 1, 2011 by a vote of 269–161. 174 Republicans and 95 Democrats voted for it, while 66 Republicans and 95 Democrats voted against it.^[14]
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_Control_Act_of_2011

[Hairy Chest]

In the long haul, cutting back on the military is long overdue and will save lives.  We just need a force to protect our shores.  Forget the rest of the world.  Time to invest in infrastructure and a new media.  The African-American President is doing OK.  He put in Hagel.   

[ChungDoQuan]

ALL budget decisions come from the Congress. Just sayin'.   If you look at sequestration, the cuts are equally done across the board. That means, since 70% or so affect the military, 70% of our budget is military spending. Talk about time to quit feeding the fat cow!

[yellowtail3]

Oh, the military will be fine. cutbacks happen. lots of Americans have lost jobs last five years (I know). We've got a HUGE military. they can hold a bake sale