Pentagon Prepares for Massive Defense Cuts as Obama Threatens Fiscal Cliff Plunge

[mystery-ak]

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/AMERICAME-ARO-BBEXCLUDE-BGOVALL/2012/12/05/id/466638


Newsmax
Pentagon Prepares for Massive Defense Cuts as Obama Threatens Fiscal Cliff Plunge
Wednesday, December 5, 2012 04:52 PM

By: Tony Capaccio

The White House budget office has directed the Defense Department to start initial planning for billions of dollars in automatic cuts that may start taking effect on Jan. 2, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman said today.

“We don’t have all the specifics yet,” spokesman George Little told reporters. “This really just has begun. We don’t have specifics on programs or personnel actions.”

Defense Department officials have said for months that they weren’t doing formal planning for how to implement the $500 billion in cuts over a decade, including $52.3 billion this fiscal year. The military has prepared only for $487 billion in already-planned reductions.

The Office of Management and Budget sent a letter to federal agencies this week asking them to collect information and prepare for the automatic cuts, White House spokesman Jay Carney said today. He said the budget office was making contingency plans as a matter of prudence and asked agencies “for additional information to finalize calculations on the spending reductions that would be required.”

Averting Cuts

Little and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said previously that the automatic cuts, called sequestration, were unthinkable and should be averted by Congress. President Barack Obama and lawmakers are embroiled in negotiations over ways to forestall the combination of spending cuts and tax increases known as the fiscal cliff.

“We don’t want to go off the fiscal cliff, but in consultation with OMB we think that it is prudent at this stage to begin at least some limited internal planning,” Little said today.

Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president of the industry trade group Professional Services Council, said he wished the planning process had started weeks ago.

“That’s not to say we want sequestration to go into effect, but if it is going to go into effect, you at least want it to be implemented in a smart, thoughtful and planned manner rather than as a crisis response,” Chvotkin said. His organization is based in Arlington, Virginia, and represents defense contractors such as CACI International Inc. and SAIC Inc.

Dan Stohr, a spokesman for the Aerospace Industries Association, said “planning is better than no planning, because sequestration is the law of the land.”

The group, also based in Arlington, has been leading an industry campaign to prevent the cuts.

“It’s tough to say whether this is another part of the bargaining process or if it’s a signal sequestration will go forward,” Stohr said.

[GonzoGOP]

“That’s not to say we want sequestration to go into effect, but if it is going to go into effect, you at least want it to be implemented in a smart, thoughtful and planned manner rather than as a crisis response,” Chvotkin said. His organization is based in Arlington, Virginia, and represents defense contractors such as CACI International Inc. and SAIC Inc.

It is the difference  between mothballing the ships, aircraft and tanks, or just letting them rot.  In the first incident you can reactivate them later if you need them.   In the latter case you end up like the Russians, having to start over again from scratch.   Carriers are expensive to keep at sea.  Right now we don't even have full air wings embarked and it is unlikely we will be able to maintian all of them in service if them money gets much shorter.  If you just tie them to the dock they will be rusted out wrecks in a year without constant maintenance.   If you pull them up a river (fresh water is much less corosive than salt water), seal off the interiors and keep them cold and dry they can be kept in reserve for decades.   I would rather have four carriers in commission and six in mothballs than have ten worthless rusted hulks with fractional air wings.   

Same goes with tanks, and aircraft.  Take them out to Davis–Monthan and store them properly and they will be there when you need them.   You can't store the B-2s and F-22s, as the UV damages their stealth coatings.  But you could keep the B-1s, F-15s, tankers, airlifters and other aircraft available for future use.  However this only works if you put them away carefully.  Just parking equipment someplace where it will get rained on and rat infested will render it completely useless if you ever do need it again.

Finally sell off what you don’t need.   We have a lot of MRAP vehicles from Iraq and Afghanistan.  Sell those to police forces for SWAT vehicles or to third world countries for crowd control.   Use the money from the garage sale to fund keeping a cadre of regulars to form a core of some future army.

[Chieftain]

It is the difference  between mothballing the ships, aircraft and tanks, or just letting them rot.  In the first incident you can reactivate them later if you need them.   In the latter case you end up like the Russians, having to start over again from scratch.   Carriers are expensive to keep at sea.  Right now we don't even have full air wings embarked and it is unlikely we will be able to maintian all of them in service if them money gets much shorter.  If you just tie them to the dock they will be rusted out wrecks in a year without constant maintenance.   If you pull them up a river (fresh water is much less corosive than salt water), seal off the interiors and keep them cold and dry they can be kept in reserve for decades.   I would rather have four carriers in commission and six in mothballs than have ten worthless rusted hulks with fractional air wings.   

Same goes with tanks, and aircraft.  Take them out to Davis–Monthan and store them properly and they will be there when you need them.   You can't store the B-2s and F-22s, as the UV damages their stealth coatings.  But you could keep the B-1s, F-15s, tankers, airlifters and other aircraft available for future use.  However this only works if you put them away carefully.  Just parking equipment someplace where it will get rained on and rat infested will render it completely useless if you ever do need it again.

Finally sell off what you don’t need.   We have a lot of MRAP vehicles from Iraq and Afghanistan.  Sell those to police forces for SWAT vehicles or to third world countries for crowd control.   Use the money from the garage sale to fund keeping a cadre of regulars to form a core of some future army.

Sounds great, and a reasonable man would proceed that way.  We aren't dealing with reasonable people though, so there is no telling what will happen to our fleet of ships and aircraft, or the tanks, trucks, guns and other vehicles.

What you left out was the impact all of that will mean on the active duty troop roster for all services.  When sequestration takes place the immediate effect will be that a bunch of troops will be put on the street within 30 days (the first week of February) and all they will get is a trip to their home of record (but they will have to pay for the move themselves and apply for reimbursement later...) and unemployment.  Nobody is talking about the impact this is all about to have on millions of families across the country.

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