Democrats Slip into Stupidity

It's amazing how quickly the Democrats, feeling their oats and suddenly realizing that they're in power, make the predictable and stupid errors that their Republican brethern have done. When faced with the opportunity to fix the military's personnel problems and heal the force, they'd rather go on a shopping spree for more toys.

John P. Murtha , D-Pa., chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, said that plans to increase by 2013 the end strength of the Army and Marine Corps by 65,000 and 27,000 troops, respectively, must be scaled back to pay for rebuilding the military after seven years of war and buying weapons for the future.

“[The Defense Department] is going to have to cut personnel in order to pay for procurement. . . . I don’t know that they are going to be able to keep growing the Army,” said Murtha, adding, “Personnel costs are out of control.”
------------
In an interview, Sen. Daniel K. Akaka , D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, agreed that more focus must be placed on shoring up facilities, gear, and training for the existing soldiers, rather than expanding their ranks.

“We need to strengthen our military forces, not by numbers, but by ability, through training and equipment and technology,” said Akaka. “In this 21st century, we’ll slim down personnel, we’ll improve their readiness, we’ll have better equipment.”

Gordon Adams, the former head of national security budgeting in the Clinton White House, said that increasing budget pressures overall are forcing Congress into the conflict between the cost of growing the force and the cost of buying the next generation of conventional equipment.

“The Pentagon is seriously and understandably divided on this subject. It’s very hard to break the mold of business-as-usual, but Gates thinks it’s absolutely necessary,” said Adams.

This isn't just a one-time thing where, because military personnel are so thinly spread and stressed in deployment after deployment, that we need to repair the force. It's basic Boydism - "It's people, ideas, equipment - in that order!" Instead we see this default to the bad old days. Maybe this instinctive behavior has been keyed by the $700 billion economic bailout and fears of financial ruin in the defense sector. But I really, really don't think the defense business is all that worried.

Do the right thing, Dems. Listen to Gates. Stop the mad procurement rush and pay for people to rest and get mended. 

Comments

[RRmike]

I am unsue if the Senator from Hawaii is running for re-election but Rep. Murthas opinion may not matter after the election.

[Patton]

What do you mean, RRmike? Murtha's unopposed except by a write-in candidate. He's going to be back next January.

[Ray]

"Stop the mad procurement rush and pay for people to rest and get mended."

Hit the nail right on the head, there. There's more than one kind of energy shortage.
R.

[displaced]

I'm confused. Isn't that what they're doing? If they stop the massive increases in personnel and get more equipment that means the the troops will be safer in the long run. Isn't that the "mending" you're talking about? What am I missing here?

Wouldn't a better "progressive" approach just be to cut personnel and equipment spending and just bring them home and stop meddling in the affairs of sovereign nations?

[ckerst]

Most of this is just noise. You have to say you are all for building the military or you don't get elected.

[Batocchio]

Do the right thing, Dems. Listen to Gates. Stop the mad procurement rush and pay for people to rest and get mended.

You got that one right. I'm hoping some of this is just election blather. I'd like to see a thorough review of projects, because some are useful and some are astoundingly wasteful. At the very least, pay personnel decently and give good medical care, especially for returning troops, whether PTSD or a physical injury.