In case your memory is fading, one of the things we learned after 9/11 was that the United States was sorely lacking in human intelligence assets–spooks and boots–on the ground. That came about for myriad reasons including the mid 90’s gutting of the military, reduction in intelligence programs, Jamie Gorelick’s wall and just plain stupidity (refer again to Jamie Gorelick’s wall). Now that we’ve finally gotten to a point of competency, along comes another Democrat President to gut the military again. If Republicans go along with this latest scheme they’ll be equally to blame.

And, ironically, the man who wants to put government in charge of health care is calling on the military to bear the brunt of the cuts; calling on troops to pay more for their health care benefits. 

The Obama administration’s proposed defense budget calls for military families and retirees to pay sharply more for their healthcare, while leaving unionized civilian defense workers’ benefits untouched. 

I recognize that the military is 17-20% of the US budget and probably has a few places to cut back. But what? Recently on the program I asked Frank Gaffney from the Center for Security Policy about it. He basically said the low hanging fruit was being snipped as we spoke and there wasn’t much more to cut without compromising US security. He’s a fan of the F35 strike fighter, the continued building of which is ripe for cut backs. He’s also not supportive of ripping all of our forces out of Iraq. Getting out of Afghanistan is a whole different matter, but doesn’t favor a wholesale pull out because ultimately it will cost us even more.

Each state will bear the brunt of cutbacks. See the stats from Oregon and Washington below. Once again, however, the troops will bear the biggest burden of the cutbacks. And as we learn from “Our Man in Fallujah,” this one’s gonna hurt,

Hello everyone,

  Below is a portion of an article that discusses what the Pentagon submitted as a potential plan for Tricare and how the DoD wants to save money.  It will go under review with the Armed Services Committee.
“…Under the new plan, the Pentagon would get the bulk of its savings by targeting under-65 and Medicare-eligible military retirees through a tiered increase in annual Tricare premiums that will be based on yearly retirement pay.  Significantly, the plan calls for increases between 30 percent to 78 percent in Tricare annual premiums for the first year. After that, the plan will impose five-year increases ranging from 94 percent to 345 percent—more than 3 times current levels. According to congressional assessments, a retired Army colonel with a family currently paying $460 a year for health care will pay $2,048.  The new plan hits active duty personnel by increasing co-payments for pharmaceuticals and eliminating incentives for using generic drugs…”  

This story puts it even more succinctly,

The proposal is causing a major rift within the Pentagon, according to U.S. officials. Several congressional aides suggested the move is designed to increase the enrollment in Obamacare’s state-run insurance exchanges.
The disparity in treatment between civilian and uniformed personnel is causing a backlash within the military that could undermine recruitment and retention.

“Our Man in Fallujah,” who joined the US Marine Corps after Hezbollah blew up our Marines in Lebanon back in 1983, would like you to contact your Congressman and Senators to stop these cuts.

Funny, huh, that the President who crammed down the biggest entitlement program in US history, ObamaCare, one which 72% of Americans believe is unconstitutional according to a new Gallup poll, is cutting back a health care program for our warriors.

From the Center for Security Policy come these stats about how much Oregon and Washington will feel the defense cutbacks.