Bigger isn’t always better. Better providing for those that are in, serving, or retired/discharged and needing medical care and retirement, better spent money indeed. As to 11 carrier groups? An insane waste, especially as submarines can also do the same job, but they don’t “look neat”. The survival of the carriers after Pearl Harbor DID save our bacon in THAT war, but that war ended 60 years ago. Carriers are to a degree today’s version of the battleships that were outdated, and extremely expensive to operate.
I love the military bashers who have no idea what threats we face from those countries who just “love” us. I learned hour slanted the media coverage was when I got the chance to see hostility up close. My unit even came to the rescue of some Peace Corps members who got in trouble for being nice. They appreciated that once we showed up with rifles, the situation changed, and God love them, they showed a ton of courage and stayed. We patrolled and found the problem and neutralized the threat…and the Corps was able to continue helping hundreds. You see, hatred towards us crosses party lines and many borders…even when we are doing good. History shows us that a small number of bad people (nazis, pol pots, imperialists, jihadists, workers party war mongers, janjaweed, etc) can do great harm if not dealt with. Sure, cut the military, but don’t cut it so history repeats itself.AS for size of military, you do know we spend more on the War on Poverty than we do on the military…and that has been a losing battle. I exited poverty by taking good advice from Conservatives…the friends who took Liberals’ advice are still in the old neighborhood, although they do work less and have better tvs than me, I don’t miss poverty.
Love your sarcasm. True to its word the USA shares the largest peaceful borders in the history of the world, and that is proof of our intentions. We could easily crush our southern neighbors and walk right into or Northern friends land but don’t. It would be a peaceful world if we were students of King Kamehameha…but instead we listen to and elect cowards.
Thought you were for smaller government? What, you thought that cutting NPR would balance the budget? The military IS the government, and if you think we should increase the budget, then we must increase taxes to pay for it.
Our absurd size is due to more than just big, um, STICK syndrome. We’re, supposedly, guarding our national interests. We’re also guarding other nations’ interests, but footing the bill all ourselves. For example, not only have we been the default military for our allies, we’re currently trying to stabilize Afghanistan, which China is mining. If we didn’t stabilize it, they wouldn’t have safe-ish mining interests. The trick is for us to get other nations to contribute for the benefits they reap. This would give us the income to help support our military, or they would commit theirs, taking the pressure off of us.
One way to make “friends” is to stop blowing up people’s kids with our “mini-wars”, for oil. Hundreds of existing, and cleared, leases domestically, are NOT in production! Many haven’t even been tapped commercially. But it is still a finite resource. A smaller and more efficient military IS the key to reducing our national debt, period. “Toys”, at high cost, are the mainstay of today’’s military. One added “solution” NO OFFICER CAN LEAVE THE MILITARY AND GO TO WORK FOR A DEFENSE CONTRACTOR, PERIOD!
Dtroutma over 12 years ago
Bigger isn’t always better. Better providing for those that are in, serving, or retired/discharged and needing medical care and retirement, better spent money indeed. As to 11 carrier groups? An insane waste, especially as submarines can also do the same job, but they don’t “look neat”. The survival of the carriers after Pearl Harbor DID save our bacon in THAT war, but that war ended 60 years ago. Carriers are to a degree today’s version of the battleships that were outdated, and extremely expensive to operate.
aguirra3 over 12 years ago
I love the military bashers who have no idea what threats we face from those countries who just “love” us. I learned hour slanted the media coverage was when I got the chance to see hostility up close. My unit even came to the rescue of some Peace Corps members who got in trouble for being nice. They appreciated that once we showed up with rifles, the situation changed, and God love them, they showed a ton of courage and stayed. We patrolled and found the problem and neutralized the threat…and the Corps was able to continue helping hundreds. You see, hatred towards us crosses party lines and many borders…even when we are doing good. History shows us that a small number of bad people (nazis, pol pots, imperialists, jihadists, workers party war mongers, janjaweed, etc) can do great harm if not dealt with. Sure, cut the military, but don’t cut it so history repeats itself.AS for size of military, you do know we spend more on the War on Poverty than we do on the military…and that has been a losing battle. I exited poverty by taking good advice from Conservatives…the friends who took Liberals’ advice are still in the old neighborhood, although they do work less and have better tvs than me, I don’t miss poverty.
aguirra3 over 12 years ago
And if we were allowed to drill for oil here, the oil wouldn’t have to be imported!
aguirra3 over 12 years ago
Love your sarcasm. True to its word the USA shares the largest peaceful borders in the history of the world, and that is proof of our intentions. We could easily crush our southern neighbors and walk right into or Northern friends land but don’t. It would be a peaceful world if we were students of King Kamehameha…but instead we listen to and elect cowards.
ianrey over 12 years ago
Thought you were for smaller government? What, you thought that cutting NPR would balance the budget? The military IS the government, and if you think we should increase the budget, then we must increase taxes to pay for it.
pirate227 over 12 years ago
We no longer need a large ground force to occupy countries.Beefing up the Navy and AF will work just fine to maintain our empire.
CasualBrowser over 12 years ago
Our absurd size is due to more than just big, um, STICK syndrome. We’re, supposedly, guarding our national interests. We’re also guarding other nations’ interests, but footing the bill all ourselves. For example, not only have we been the default military for our allies, we’re currently trying to stabilize Afghanistan, which China is mining. If we didn’t stabilize it, they wouldn’t have safe-ish mining interests. The trick is for us to get other nations to contribute for the benefits they reap. This would give us the income to help support our military, or they would commit theirs, taking the pressure off of us.
aguirra3 over 12 years ago
On behalf of all your anti domestic oil friends…show me proof.
Dtroutma over 12 years ago
One way to make “friends” is to stop blowing up people’s kids with our “mini-wars”, for oil. Hundreds of existing, and cleared, leases domestically, are NOT in production! Many haven’t even been tapped commercially. But it is still a finite resource. A smaller and more efficient military IS the key to reducing our national debt, period. “Toys”, at high cost, are the mainstay of today’’s military. One added “solution” NO OFFICER CAN LEAVE THE MILITARY AND GO TO WORK FOR A DEFENSE CONTRACTOR, PERIOD!
d_legendary1 over 12 years ago
^Leave it to you to change the subject.