I want to start this rant by explaining where I come from as a person. My parents grew up in the depression, my father worked in FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps, and he joined the army at age 24, well before WWII started, and stayed in the Army until he retired with 31 years of service. I in turned joined the military at age 18, deciding to enlist in the Navy to sail the seas and see the world. I only stayed in the Navy 4 years, but joined the Army after a brief time as a civilian and retired with 21 years of service. Now one would say I am biased towards the military, and they would be correct. That being said, I have a problem when I hear that the President and Congress want to slash the defense budget.

The Congress has power to do certain things granted to them by Article 1, section 9 of our Constitution, which states; “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.” The article goes on about many other powers and continues to mention defense in various forms, but this first paragraph I feel states the most important and obvious things our founders felt Congress’s job was. Notice after collecting taxes, duties and other fees it states “provide for the common Defence.” Now the fact that it is listed second after fiscal matters in that paragraph is an indicator of how important the authors thought having a strong military and protecting our country was.

So when I hear that defense is the first thing congress wants to cut I am outraged. Our founders knew that we would face enemies in our countries future, as they were facing in their present. They knew that a strong military would help secure the nations borders as well as the peace. I am not the first person to point out that peace it more easily kept with a strong military, but I saw first hand how we drew down after the fall of the Soviets, and how that affected readiness, morale and retention. Then when the Islamo-Facists attacked on 9/11 we had to build up our military again, but nowhere close to the pre-Clinton years. I was told in leadership schools about the draw down after WWII and how a battle lost badly by the US in Korea taught us a lesson that we just never seem to get. That lesson is that there will always be a bad guy out there somewhere. We don’t need to reduce the military as a way to save money, at the risk of future defeats and needless loss of life. Santayana said, “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

We cannot afford another Task Force Smith, the doomed unit that lost the Battle of Osan because the US didn’t have a properly trained and outfitted Army. And that is what we will have if the defense budget is cut. I saw how the military has to make do with less, but is still expected to perform all tasks necessary to remain battle ready. That leads to more accidents, failed missions, and lost battles, and all those inevitably lead to deaths of our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines. This comment from our President about the military being leaner and quicker is misinformed and ignorant of the fact that one size does not fit all in warfare. We have light and heavy Divisions in the US Army for a reason, you need both, plus armor and a whole list of units that are crucial; for winning a war.

I was told early on in my military career that a soldier does not want war, he wants peace more than the civilian does because the soldier will go to war if there is one. And the soldier knows that with a strong military, bad guys will think twice about starting anything. Now obviously it doesn’t stop the aggression completely, but it makes it easier to deal with acts of aggression if your military is ready to go.

If they want a suggestion on what to cut in the budget they should start with their own pay, staff and operating expenses, not to mention pensions and healthcare. Then tackle the so-called entitlement programs, but that is another rant. De Oppresso Liber