Re: Ross Mackenzie – Richmond Times-Dispatch 4/6/08 Letters to the editor

Ross Mackenzie (Sunday April 6th, 2008) – Next to Islamofacism, China poses the most severe long-term threat to American security. Yet we persist in underfunding the U.S. military. Most Reserve and National Guard units are significantly depleted. Nearly all manpower components, active-duty and reserve are deemed deficient in combat readiness. Major new programs face cutbacks if not cancellation. And the administration – this conservative, pro-military administration – has submitted a stay-the-course defense budget for fiscal 2009 and anticipates the base budget will decline thereafter. Imagine the consequences for the nation in this realm alone with the installation of Obama or Clinton administration next year.

I would like to hear more on how China poses the most severe long-term threat to American security. They are an emerging economic super power. If this threat to American security is solely based from an economic standpoint then by God, your right. But how then is further militarizing the US going to help the situation? If anything it will spur another arms race perpetuated by the anxiety, fear, and xenophobia echoed in the first sentence of your piece.

Mr. Mackenzie, with all due respect on the funding issues you outlined, I think the following needs to be considered:

Military spending is beginning and is projected to plateau at best, but most likely continuing to increase…not decrease. The government and the military need to spend their money better. Reserve and National Guard units are depleted because they have been yanked and thrown into regular deployments in Bush and Co.’s squabbles within the Middle East. Inadequate funding has little or nothing to do with it. More important is the missuses of these two arms of the services.

A large part of the deficiency in combat-readiness can be attributed, again to the wastefulness of the US military with the money they are given. The average tour of duty of 320 days and reduction in leave time to spend with the soldiers’ families certainly aren’t helping anything. This increased strain on the troops causes physical and mental fatigue and can often break apart their only support structure outside of their unit, the family.

The wastefulness of the U.S. military and Pentagon can be highlighted in one of its largest blunders, the V-22 Osprey, with a budget which increased from $2.5 billion in 1986 to $55,000,000,000.00. The subsequent cost of $70,000,000.00 for a dysfunctional aircraft, ices the cake. Couple this with all of the other wastes under the umbrella of the US Military (cough, the war in Iraq, cough) and the money spent on it’s contractors (did someone say Halliburton?) and you could come up with quite a few better ways to spend the money and increase the combat-readiness of the troops.

I fail to see how we are lacking in military funding when the US expenditure is 48% of the entire worlds’. Our GDP, population, land ownership, etc. certainly do not reflect an equal percentage of the total in any of those categories. To think we need an increase in this total, possibly surpassing half of the worlds military spending is absurd. The only reason I can see for this, is that we continue the course of intervening and playing Big Brother all over the world, using military force to accomplish what we want, funding other countries and their wars when it benefits us, making more and more enemies through the use of US Military force. If anything, I can see why this money is going to be needed for defense of the American Empire. But perpetuating this cycle to further enhance (…and excuse my bandwagon lingo) the Military-Industrial Complex, is a step in the wrong direction

43% of the American tax dollar is handed over to the military. This figure eclipses all social expenses put together. We have 3.5 million homeless people on our streets, a poverty crisis which is out of hand, a failing economy, a spiraling national debt, and an educational system which is made a mockery by countries far less advanced than us. And you sir, are worried about not enough military funding for a country which accounts for almost half of the worlds military spending?

I think that Obama or Clinton are the least of your problems.