Justice

The wealth inequality in America underlies our domestic economic degradation and also decreases the United States ability to lead on a global scale. Social cohesion and internal stability are the true foundation blocks of national security. Eighty percent of America’s wealth belong to the top two percent. If reform could be made in this area, many cuts would not need to be made and prosperity would grow enormously in America. Instead, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is proposing a list of broad spending reductions of 50 billion dollars to our United States military. Over the next ten years one trillion dollars will have been cut from the defense fund. With these new cuts, the question has arisen; whether or not we could handle simultaneous wars like we had in Iraq and Afghanistan. A preview of the 2015 budget reduces the size of the Army to its smallest size since 1940.

The proposed cuts would reduce the number of troops in the Army from its current 522,000 to 440,000 soldiers. The Navy’s fleet would fall to 255 in 2020 compared to its current 306, while the Air Force would reduce flying hours by 15% and curtail or cancel major exercises. The Air Force under these cuts would also cut 25,000 airmen and eliminate 550 aircraft. The Marines would be reduced to 174,000, which is said to be the smallest number that could effectively go to war and conduct ongoing operations. The reductions are forcing the military to cut back in areas that leave a good portion of the troops inadequately trained, and unready to respond in crisis. Thankfully, American forces still far exceed military operations in other areas of the world. Every time a war ends, such as WW1, WW11, and the Cold War, the military shrinks hoping that the peace time will last. The supposed end of the war in Afghanistan is coming upon us, thus pressure is being applied to Afghan president Hamid Karzai to ease its dependence on American soldiers and be prepared to fight with his own armed forces.

 The proposed cuts are greater than the normal shrinkage to be expected after a long war. These cut into the very pocket books of our veterans.  Hagel says reform to military compensation cannot be avoided. Currently, an Army private with two years’ experience earns an average of 40,400 annually, included in that figure is housing and food allowances. An Army captain with six years’ of service receives 98,800 annually on average. The military, their spouses, and their children are also covered under Tricare for all their healthcare expenses. There are presently 1.2 million children covered under Tricare. Eighty-three percent of those who serve less than two decades do not get retirement benefits, but those who do serve twenty years get a pension of half their base pay. The question: should those who enlist at eighteen and retire at thirty-eight be eligible to receive forty years’ worth of pension funds? The reform would not allow veterans to receive their pension until they reach age sixty-two. This would result in an average loss or savings, depending on how it perceived, of 72,000 dollars over a lifetime. This may seem reasonable to some, but to those who risk their lives and face unspeakable physical and mental wounds, these changes can be very unsettling. The hope and the plan is to not effect current military members with these changes, but to implement them with the future generation of soldiers. The goal and the challenge is to make the programs both affordable and sustainable, while still attracting and appealing to those volunteering to risk their lives for our security.