U.S. Military Budget

[DocBoCook]

In partial agreement, but not in other parts. The our Twelve NUCLEAR Aircraft carriers eliminate alot of the need for some of those bases, but at the same time, some of those areas cannot be lost. But, Gitmo, and other bases of no real strategic value, should be BRAC'd

[FOXBARON]

One of the reasons Rome went down the tubes is they started using mercenaries to protect their kingdom nd fight their wars.

I think we should at the least double if not triple the pay for every military member as well as give them life time medical care along with their families after 10 years of service, commissary privileges and a down payment for a real home whenever they want it. And pay for their kids college education too. And a million bucks to their widow and kids if they die in-service for us.

Considering that we have an all volunteer military because we don't have the balls to bring back the draft or require mandatory military services by all adult males then I think it is the least we owe the guys and gals who are going to be our professional warriors and go into harms way on our behalf again, and again, and again, and again............................................. .

[DocBoCook]

One of the reasons Rome went down the tubes is they started using mercenaries to protect their kingdom nd fight their wars.

I think we should at the least double if not triple the pay for every military member as well as give them life time medical care along with their families after 10 years of service, commissary privileges and a down payment for a real home whenever they want it. And pay for their kids college education too. And a million bucks to their widow and kids if they die in-service for us.

Considering that we have an all volunteer military because we don't have the balls to bring back the draft or require mandatory military services by all adult males then I think it is the least we owe the guys and gals who are going to be our professional warriors and go into harms way on our behalf again, and again, and again, and again............................................. .

Here here. The best i get after 11.5 years of service was a medical discharge and a 1000 stipend and half-arsed medical care

[johnsteele]

I agree with all that was said above to a certain extent. I definitely would rather spend the 500+ billion on defense instead of bailing out companies. However, if you look at this list it is a bit confusing to me, List of countries by military expenditures - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. We spend about halve of the entire world's military expenditures. I understand that one plane might cost a billion, but are we that superior to everybody. If we are spending more then the next 25 countries put together, shouldn't we have 25x the planes, 25x the guns, 25x the troops etc etc... Basically, to me it seems there is a lot of politics in this and this money is getting wasted in hand outs to defense contractors or something because I know the money isn't going to the troops. For example, I saw this film about Haliburton and others on HBO the other day. Some marines were talking about how the Haliburton trucks just run up and down the road over and over again without a load not bringing supplies to the troops. He said he found out it was because they were billing the government for every trip they made even if they didn't make a delivery.

Most of the waste comes about through Congress. Remember the famous $900 toilet seat and the $500 coffee maker. Those kinds of things came about because Congress would only approve contracts for two years or less. So when the manufacturer finishes the contract he has to assume that there will not be any more business, just parts at best. Its better now but still messed up. As I recall we are still buying C-130s despite the fact that they are flown directly to California and put in mothballs. Lockheed is in Marietta GA and a very influential Congressman is from that district and he wants C-130s even if we have no use for them.

[johnsteele]

Deleted

[ugarolla]

One of the reasons Rome went down the tubes is they started using mercenaries to protect their kingdom nd fight their wars.

I think we should at the least double if not triple the pay for every military member as well as give them life time medical care along with their families after 10 years of service, commissary privileges and a down payment for a real home whenever they want it. And pay for their kids college education too. And a million bucks to their widow and kids if they die in-service for us.

Considering that we have an all volunteer military because we don't have the balls to bring back the draft or require mandatory military services by all adult males then I think it is the least we owe the guys and gals who are going to be our professional warriors and go into harms way on our behalf again, and again, and again, and again............................................. .

Have you ever heard of Blackwater

[.45_4me]

I support taking real good care of our military folks. I suspect there will be a lot of $$ cut from our military budget and redirected to entitlements. I hope I'm wrong!