NBC News Military Analyst on Obama’s Plan to Gut the U.S. Military: “I’m not convinced we’re going to be able to do what we need to do with that small an Army” – Video 1/5/12

This is reminiscent of Clinton cutting the military and sugar coating it as creating a “leaner and meaner” military.  He thought we could do the same job with fewer people.  What happened was that active duty divorce rates went up, domestic abuse rates went up, suicide went up, folks were working far more hours to produce the same results we used to have when we had more people doing the work.  At the same time, when you don’t have enough military forces to do a job (and the ones you do have are enduring much longer and more frequent deployments) you have to hire contractors to do the job.  Tax payers need to realize that contractors are mainly former military, many of them getting a military retirement.  In this scenario the Government is now paying contractors a retirement plus a wage to do the job of active duty folks “so we can bring the troops home” from Iraq, or Afghanistan, etc.  People think we’re saving money because we’ve brought the troops home . . . really we’re paying more than before.  This is true in all aspects of military life – say for example they cut military doctors and nurses at military hospitals – then when they don’t have the resources to take care of everyone they send you to someone off base and “contract” out your care.  There are ways to cut waste and save money in the military but cutting troops isn’t the answer, it also leaves us with a hollow force and our enemies understand that.