They haven't needed the carriers in the gulf for anything more than deterrance in a long time. One carrier still sends a strong message, and is quite capable of handling whatever the local bad guys throw at them.

Notice the X-47B on the deck. Where will it be conducting autonomous carrier landings that are scheduled for this year.

At a speech Wednesday, the outgoing Secretary of Defense warned that the budget battles in Washington are putting America at risk.

More fear tactics from the DOD to try to convince the American public that any cut in the extremely bloated military budget will somehow make us less safe.

Since you seem to know everything, perhaps you could enlighten me how you know it will not make us less safe. Just asking......

Satanick

The military is trim compared to years ago. We used to maintain enough military to handle one major war each in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Over the years the numbers have dwindled to two minor wars. With where the DOD is going right now, handling one major war in one ocean is what we will be able to handle.

That is far from bloated.

We spent over 700 billion in 2012! If you don't think that there is waste and inefficiency there then I really don't know what to say.

Since you seem to know everything, perhaps you could enlighten me how you know it will not make us less safe. Just asking......

If it will be so dangerous for us to cut defense spending then why did the defense secretary not even list one possible danger from sequestration? He is drumming up fear to keep his budget inflated. Its how bureaucracies work.

Please do not answer my question with a question............give me an answer to my questions.

When I try to save on my bank book I don't tell everybody it just makes good economic sense..

good answer?

Carriers are the single most important piece of military hardware we have.

Maybe we should focus budget cuts on the least effective items, instead of the most effective and most useful items...

They should never have been there, anyway.

Heck of a job, Bush.

Stop using my taxes to fund the Military Industrial Complex and start using my taxes to fund We the People.

Just a reminder, it was Obama and the Democrats who insisted on the huge defense cuts in sequestration negotiations 18 months ago. Of course per normal they are now panicked and trying to blame Republicans.

#Never Stop: so instead of feeding the military industrial complex, you want to feed the welfare denizens of the depths of Chicago (or fill in the blank). In a democracy, I get a voice on whether my taxes are wasted on the MIC vs. the never ending welfare black hole. Who exactly is We the People. More Occupy activity? Admit it, what you really want is....free S4it. After watching the Occupy Movement for over a year, I finally figured it out. You want free $4it.

Even if the military budget is slashed, we'll still be spending over 40% of the entire world's spending on defense.

Maybe we can get by on a few billion less. The entire rest of the world barely out spends us.

Scare tactics from the Navy. Why not reduce one carrier in the Pacific where NOTHING IS GOING ON. Duh.

bear in mind , one nuclear missile submarine carries more destructive firepower than any carrier or its task force. they are there, but where? unless they surface, you cannot track them, the bad guys know this, the carrier task force is a big presence that can be seen and heard, and yes very powerful. the down side is the bad guys know where it is at anytime. not that it helps them much when we do send in aircraft. there are at least two ballistic missile submarines attached to each carrier, and two attack submarines. plenty of teeth. for sure, not to mention the aegis missile destroyers.

"in the Pacific where NOTHING IS GOING ON". Wow clueless speaks. If ignorance is bliss, jake is on top of the world.

Why don't we go back to the kind of military we had before WW2.The Army had to use wooden guns and trucks as tanks because they did'nt have enough to go around.There were not enough Marines to make up a division.Admittedly we had a good navy but,That's only because Roosevelt(democrat)prefered the navy.Most of our military aircraft were obsolete or in very short numbers to say the least.Since There is no Hitler or USSR anymore,maybe we don't need a military at all.We could just pay other countries to fight for us.We don't need defence anymore do we?We can just start paying tributes to keep the peace.(buy peace in other words)Truth is,Sooner or later someone is going to move against us and then prople will cry.WHERE is that CARRIER!! WHERE is our AIRFORCE!!WHERE are our TANKS and INFANTRY!!! the someone will say.OOOOPSS,didn't think about that.

In Modern warfare a surface vessel is going to be history in the first hour or so. Carriers are too slow to avoid any missle and believe it or not, they are carefully tracked by who knows how many enemies. They are outdated but great when it comes to a "show" of strength in some areas of the world.

Future wars seem to be insurgent wars, and we can't win insurgent wars, never have, except our own when we were the insurgent. The only way you win that one is with economic and diplomatic strength. The Mideast is out of control and has been for over 2000 years, and we are going to fix that??? Give me a break Hawks.

We have over 1000 over seas bases and spend 4.7% of our GDP on the military while defending wealthy countries like Japan, Germany and South Korea with some spending as little as 1% of their GDP. It's time to give up the role of worlds policemen. If spending more on our military than the next 15 countries combined isn't enough it's because we're trying to do too much.

A step in the right direction. Too many over-priced union workers building all these planes, ships and tanks on the taxpayer dime. Though we'll still end up paying them to do nothing via unemployment comp, that'll be a relatively temporary holdover...

Having served in the US Navy (twice--I ignored the acronym, Never Again Volunteer Yourself), I can say for a fact that the military has trimmed down a considerable number of its operations and, in doing so, increased the stress on those who are in the armed services.

On average, two out of every three commands that I served at during my first time in are now history, including RTC Orlando and the destroyer tender that I was on. The rating that I had the second time that I was in, Photographer's Mate, no longer exists--nor does the air station where I served at, which closed and forced the squadron to move to Florida.

Also the second time around, I found it incredibly difficult to advance--what used to be required of an E-6 is now required of an E-4, along with passing your test at a much higher percentage rate and having additional qualifications to put you above the pack. It's even worse for reservists, who have even more difficult times with advancement.

And, of course, if you don't advance within your rating in a given time frame, you're kicked out. If you're underweight or overweight, you're kicked out. If you have a financial problem, you're kicked out; I know of a guy whose wife accidentally bounced a check at the NEX, then the NEX ran it through again before the couple could get money into the account (and the NEX wouldn't give the check back), and so the young sailor was put in-process for a discharge due to that little financial mess. The military has 15-year retirements now instead of 20-years, to save money and to circulate bodies faster through the system.

Heck, just getting in to the military is difficult enough--I've been through the MEPS process three times (second time, I was trying for officer, then gave up and kept on with civilian life) and I have seen the washout rate--but staying in is becoming even more difficult.

Removing assets in the Middle East will help cut costs, no question. The dilemma is will it lessen our ability to respond to terrorist activities. We were not able to respond effectively in Benghazi and Algeria. The French did a decent job in Algeria, a little bloody, but OK. I would like to think that our Westerners located in the Middle East would be safe without our military presence, but I fear they wont, and withdrawing assets will embolden terrorists, like in Turkey at the US Embassy.

The last time the country pulled assets in the Middle East was under Clinton, and then the African Embassies were attacked, the US Cole, and 911 was planned. Clinton balanced the budget at the expense of defense and intelligence.

Carter cut defenses and as a result of poor training Eagle Claw saw helicopters crash into each other.

My suggestion is to scale back slowly military assets and build intelligence assets to be more aware of terrorist activities. But always have a forward team on call in the vicinity, and make sure intelligence is shared.

@Larry-367607

You have a link that proves we have OVER 1000 bases? Or are you just hyperboling? And don't tell me to look it up myself, I already know the answer.

For those of you posters who taut we do not need to be the worlds policemen, who should be then? Russia? China? North Korea? We have treaties that were put in place loooooong before any of us were born, we must honor those treaties, and yes, that makes us the world policmen. I would rather have us be the worlds policemen, I dont know Russian, Chinese or Korean.

Lots and lots of bad info on here.

First and foremost, the fact that we're not using strategic assets is a testimony that our policy is working as intended. The purpose of spending all that money is to ensure that not only do we have the best military, but there is such a huge gap in capability that no one else could hope to defeat it. We show off this capability to ensure our enemies know about it and thus are rendered strategically paralyzed, they can't do anything without bringing destruction upon themselves. It's a policy designed to create a perpetual peace via stalemate. Saddam proved in the 90's that there are still those individuals / countries who think their the next coming of Alexander and will attempt to annex their neighbors and build empires, we stopped him before he could conquer the middle east (Persian Gulf War).

We do all this because the cost of WWIII is greater then the cost of maintaining this very public position. That goes double now that nukes and biological weapons are so pervasive. You guys think nukes and tanks are bad enough, imagine what a weaponized version of the Bubonic Plague would do to the world.

Otherwise lots of very incorrect information about US weapons systems in this thread. That's for a separate discussion though. I will leave it at this, there currently is no weapons system capable of reliably getting past Aegis.

It's a nuclear powered ship, correct? You want to know what? It's cheaper to keep it at sea than to have it in port. At sea, it produces it's own energy and water. In port, its reactor is turned off, it draws water and electricity from the city grid where it is ported at and so in port, it incurs more bills meaning more money must be spent to keep it in port than it does to keep it at sea. Food? Well, the sailors pay for their own food out of their Basic Allowance for Sustenance, in port, they don't get that back but even so many of them choose anyhow to either eat out away from the ship or cook at home if they have a home other than the ship meaning food gets wasted while the ship is in port.

Yep, it's the usual government money shell game. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."

Tea59: Sure do. And no one needs to be the worlds policemen.

The Costs of Empire: Can We Really Afford 1,000 Overseas Bases?

Our overseas military bases are pushing the nation deeper into debt and making the United States and the planet less secure.

March 9, 2009 |

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In the midst of an economic crisis that's getting scarier by the day, it's time to ask whether the nation can really afford some 1,000 military bases overseas. For those unfamiliar with the issue, you read that number correctly. One thousand. One thousand U.S. military bases outside the 50 states and Washington, DC, representing the largest collection of bases in world history.

Officially the Pentagon counts 865 base sites, but this notoriously unreliable number omits all our bases in Iraq (likely over 100) and Afghanistan (80 and counting), among many other well-known and secretive bases. More than half a century after World War II and the Korean War, we still have 268 bases in Germany, 124 in Japan, and 87 in South Korea. Others are scattered around the globe in places like Aruba and Australia, Bulgaria and Bahrain, Colombia and Greece, Djibouti, Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Romania, Singapore, and of course, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba -- just to name a few. Among the installations considered critical to our national security are a ski center in the Bavarian Alps, resorts in Seoul and Tokyo, and 234 golf courses the Pentagon runs worldwide.

The US is spending too much of it's budget on the DoD and that needs to change if we are going to address the national debt, along with some other prudent reductions. That being said, rapid, blind program reductions can actually cost us a lot more over the next 5-10 years. There are a few major weapon programs - that are not performing well - that are sucking up a great deal of the funding. They should be trimmed to a reasonable level with a stern warning to start meeting spec or risk more drastic measures. Deployments of assets like aircraft carriers have huge supply chains and and they should be kept ready, but closer to home unless they are vital to the security of the region. All that aside, our DoD budget also provides basic research and support of manufacturing capacity in the US that benefits the commercial sector as well, so quick moves with it's budget may not be as easy as they seem. But I do think if the DoD wants to close a base or end a procurement program - there are several they have tried unsuccessfully with but were stopped by Congress - this would be a good time to listen.

There are many ways to exert influence - not all require trillion dollar weapon programs. We would be better off expending more money on space-based assets and improving cyber security than going for a massive expansion of land or sea forces at this time.

a link Larry a Link, not copying and pasting. Geez guess reading comprehension wasnt your strong suit

home-bred teens, now young adults do not know the meaning of this actually... it sends a notice to our... unkind neighbors that we are getting weaker military wise. The Russians already know we wont lift a finger against them unless they attack us directly. The Chinese know it as well. Those (traitors) who do not pay attention to the news are missing the the big picture lost in so many little ones. They look at the war in Afghanistan like we are being the bully, same in Iraq, when they have no clue to what kind of life the people were living before we arrived even tho it hits the headlines at least once a week to the atrocities that go on in those places. (it isnt THEM why do they care?) Yet take your pick, if we were to have left those countries in total rubble killing millions of innocents, or trying to help them form a government to at least take in some democracy, they would still be heard as bleating sheep, of discontent. never happy because they need something to complain about. worst part is, they too have bleating offspring who need to be taken care of.

question.. how many of you bleating sheep have ever driven/visited the local industrial complex for the military? take a real close look at the barbed wire fence for security... notice how it is placed to keep people in.... not out?

the government loves to hear the sound of bleating sheep, but do you know why? because when it comes to articles like this one, or a shooting... it means you are not seeing the overall BIG picture, but complaining about everything under the sun, but that big picture....

bear in mind , one nuclear missile submarine carries more destructive firepower than any carrier or its task force.

Yes, very true. But, it is power that we can't use except in retaliation. A carrier, on the other hand, projects power that we can use. Both vessels have their purposes.

I was stationed in Japan for 8 years, and I was never on any US military installation while I was there. Now, I had been to a lot of Japanese bases, belonging to the JMSDF (Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force) and the JGSDF (Japanese Ground Self Defense Force), and there wasn't 124 bases. Been to Korea also, Okinawa. Think your source is hyprboling, and you're just fool enough to believe in the propaganda.

imagine the iranians and taliban are celebrating tonite with that news....the u.s. of a just dropped its guard, watch out for the left hook followed by an uppercut....

Naughty....your right, the children (18-30's) have no fricken idea...they are only interested in who's winning american idol, and who kim kardashian is shackin up with....

Ed, deterrence is everything, or near everything. We move out of there and the hornets are coming out of the nests.

You are probably right Coyotehunter.They will view this as a sign of weakness.They would be right to think so too.Money has been this countries weakness since the beginning.Our eneimies today know that the longer they fight, the better the chance they will win.Americans are more concerned about PC and money than they are about winning and that's why every little po dunk country and terrorists group knows they can beat us.All they have to do is wait until we beat ourselves.

Hello folks, we can cut a heck of a lot more.

Our military budget outspends all other countries combined. We have military bases in more foreign countries than all other countries combined. The only reason war is still a commodity is because it is a huge cash cow for the Military Industrial Complex. No wars, no profits.

Since the demise of the Soviet Union, the United States has dominated the global arms market. We are the sales leader by far with 55% of global arms exports, quadruple the share of its closest competitor.

Even for those that don't think 9/11 was a false flag, the trillions of dollars we have spent on our defense didn't stop the towers and free falling building 7 from imploding.

Perhaps diplomacy and getting along with our neighbors will come into fashion.

Larry #'s: You are using old and out of date information that is WRONG. Those Bases in Iraq? Closed...remember we pulled our troops out. Most of the Bases in Germany? Closed and turned back over to the Germans.....many of them originally built by the French, and British. , and as for those bases in places like Aruba? well any of them that are in members of the British Commonwealth or britain we got on lease from the British in a 99 year deal for 1$ a year for those 99 years, that deal was made in the 1940's as part of the Lend/Lease program we had with them for equipment during world war 2 not sure if you can do the math......we still get those bases for real cheap for about 40 more years. Those 234 Golf courses....are all on US Military Instalations most of them in the US and they don't actually come out of the Defense Budget they are part of the MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) which is actually a self sustaining part of the combined militaries, what it charges goes back into it's own budgets and give the military people and their families a chance to spend a little down time and family time. That Ski Center in the Alps...is also MWR and is a super cheap lease from the German Government as a Thanks to the US. Ma Our Number of bases in Germany? Down to less then 50, but hey the modern facts and info would not really suit or support your tirade so please fell free to not use the real facts.

How do I know this? I have helped close up some of those activities over the years andI have many friends who have served at them and helped them close. Same with those 87 Bases in Korea, more then half have been closed and returned to the Koreans, and before you make yourself look bad, I have served in Korea as well and those people love and adore the Americans and those service men for being willing to lay their lives on the line to help keep them safe. They have been loyal to us ever since the war and even supplied whole divisions to fight alongside us during the Vietnam War, and even have sent troops to both Iraq and Afghanistan in support of their Allies the US. If we were invaded here I am 100% positive they would send troops to help us. Please do not open your mouth to argue against that if you have never been to their country and talked to and even shared meals with their people.

You prefer to use facts that are distorted and not even whole facts , but only snippets of real info , only the amount needed to try to defend a point of view that is full of lies and misinformation. It is sad that you would beleive propaganda sites instead of doing your own research and garner the truth for yourself, and Yes your info is just PROPAGANDA spin , put on a nub of fact to make it say what the writer wants. Me I base my info on first hand knowledge because I have been there and continue to serve almost 20 years of service now to my country through good and bad, and if I disagree with something, I find out the facts for myself so I know what I am talking about, I even find out the facts for things I agree with if I am going to debate the issue.

Why not let the service men and women do their jobs.

Want to fend off budget cuts?

Quit sending billions of tax dollars to Egypt and Seria.

This administration has no idea of how to curb spending. The POTUS goes on television and says he wants a balanced approach to spending cuts. But continues to spend like there is no tomorrow.

Kind of the Pot calling the Kettle Black pairity going on here type of a thing.

Barry NJ, true. A carrier is power they can see. If they don't see a submarine they might think the coast is clear to operate and start irreversible actions.

I wonder how many other countries have a welfare/medicade system like we do?NO NO i am not talking about social security and medicare.People pay into social security and medicare and deserve those benifits.I am not talking about disability either. I am talking about the sit at home,no job,4 kids,third generation family welfare types.

Trust: We are not and never have been the biggest arms dealer in the world, The russians have gone down in the amount the sell now, but there is a reason the AK-47 is the most produced weapon and most used weapon in the world, over 40 million of them and counting used world wide, they still sell and produce large amounts, as do the Chinese, there is a reason more nations in the world use Soviet Equipment or the Chinese knock off version, the world over, and I promise you it was not purchased from the United States. India uses their Equipment, Iran, egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Lybia,90% of the African countries, and probably at least 1/3 to 1/2 of the middle east countries, but I could be lowballing that figure. Plus the US made weapons that are sold, are only sold to those countries we actually trust, because of the fear it may be used against us. oh yes Pakistan uses Soviet made, Malaysia, Venezuala, the list goes on.

So How many years did you serve? How many places have you been to see all this stuff you claim we sell to all these foreign nations? Most of what we do selll is to western nations or to our close allies.

Great photo with one of the US Navy's huge new drones sitting on that Carrier deck. It's sort of a shame that we just keep hauling all that explosive ordnance back and forth from these Carrier's home ports to the Persian Gulf and back again. It might be a better idea (purely for the purpose of saving on nuclear fuel) to reduce the ship's displacement and drag of these Carriers when we are ready to send them home ... by expending all of that explosive ordnance on Iran's Nuclear facilities. It's the least we can do for the environment. The US Navy could "Go Green", by making parts of Iran glow (beginning with the Presidential Palace!)

;-)

GOOD ONE INNKEEPER!! sorry for the caps but i wanted to draw attention to you.I have been to Korea,Japan and i am sure they would help us also.I am not too sure about Germany.(been there too)in fact i doubt many in the UN would do anything.For the most part we could save alot of money as well by not paying our 300 million annual membership fee to the UN.We could also save alot of money by not being the host country for the UN and paying all the bills for them too.The main thing the UN needs us for is when there is trouble they love to call upon us for troops and money.I refer to that as American M&M's(money and military)

This is totally a BS political ploy to taunt the GOP into changing their tune. It is also a crock of crap as the Carrier and the Navy men and women aboard are assigned to the ship and will remain on the payroll, regardless of where the ship is located. It's Obama pulling another freaking fast one and dissing his opposition. Obungler will stop at nothing to get his freaking agenda! Do not be charmed into his line of BS.

Maybe we should hit up the saudis, kuwaitis, quataris, etc. to pay for the carriers. We've been protecting their lame asses for years while they fund the islamo terrorists who have been trying to kill us for decades. Why should we spend our treasure and risk the lives of our service men and women to keep their money spigot flowing. Let them blow each other up.

If Obama would let our petroleum industry develop resources here there would be plenty of oil and events in the midle east would largely be moot. But he won't. If he did, there would be one less "crisis" to exploit.

Rob-523523

A step in the right direction. Too many over-priced union workers building all these planes, ships and tanks on the taxpayer dime. Though we'll still end up paying them to do nothing via unemployment comp, that'll be a relatively temporary holdover...

Why havent you called Obama yet to help him reduce the unemployment since you have it all figured out? I guess you figure your money is better spent on these social welfare programs while they sit at home and are non productive and cant even pass a drug test. Awesome. I would prefer my tax dollars go to defense. North Korea is already developing a Nuclear Weapon to hit the U.S. So i would rather have these carriers out there at sea that would shoot them down vs. waiting for them to re-enter the atmosphere and hope we can knock it down then. It always good to have a fail safe system. Kind of like an aircraft. There are back-up systems incase something goes wrong.

Wolfhound: There are parts of Northern Germany that I might Question, But Bavaria has been very close to the US since before the First world war, they were not officially part of Germany until after and technically they are still an Automonus region, that is why we got that sector for control after the War. The Bavarians Protested outside our Bases During the Afghan and Iraq Invasions In Support of Our Move as opposed to most of the others through out their country.

I too have served in Korea, as well as 3 trips to Germany and 2 Tours of the Middle East. I am not always sure of Frances support either.....but from other vets who have been there it is only the sucking of the gov't city folks in France who dislike us....the country folk still love us and are thankful for our help in both wars.

Timothy: I can't say for the Saudi's but I know for a fact the Emir of Kuwait does help us in support of our troops in his country, most of our troops are on their Military bases, the bases that are solely ours we pay no rent on, and he sells fuel to us for our use there for just pennies. You would be amazed how much we save by that help, but the anti military people will not tell you that, it would make you ask what else are they hiding from you? You can learn a lot from being boots on Ground.

Well if this budget concerns are so bad then why the H*ll is the Department of Defense still mandated by Congress with the spend it or loss it budget attitude. This has been going on since I enlisted in the early 70's and still goes on today. The American voters need to fire every last one of those idiots on Capital Hill and start over before it's to late. Smaller government not larger is what we need and the President and all Congress members need to take a 50% pay cut until the budget is balanced and are debit is cut in half which mean the next 50 years.

OLD SAYING HERE.......It is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

AN older soldier I served with told me a story from when he was in the navy, back in the 70's The Mayor and city council and many bussiness owners complained about the Base there, saying they did nothing for the city, and only caused problems, The Base Commander requested his next pay cycle be sent to him in Silver Dollars, after paying all the troops the town was flooded with silver dollars and he then had another meeting with all the naysayers they never again told him that the military was no good for the area.

The Military gives jobs to both the service men and locals and pumps millions into the economy providing economic growth and stimulus, the bases and these companies who make stuff for them still do the same for our economy so think about how much less all our country will be getting with these major cuts and how much worse our economy would be if you anti's got your way and the military was done away with.

RDV You have hit the nail on the head with that statement, but only military people know this, the gov't does not let the people know about this, that would save huge amounts of money every year, but you want our Politicians to stop waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars?

Two words to let you know why the US will never cut off giving tax dollars to Egypt - Suez Canal - can you imagine the amount of money that passes through there each day? The billionaires/millionaires, corporations, CEO's, Lobbyists and Super PACs would never allow it!!! Our tax dollars go to make them more wealthy - don't you understand that?!!! Tax money that goes to any other country, I bet you it won't take too long for you to find another reason why giving your money to those countries makes them (the wealthy) more wealthy!!!

I am sure khan there is nothing you consume that passes through the suez canal, I mean heck we may as well just sail things the long way around and pay even more for things that are shipped from that side of the world, I for one would rather spend more of my money on goods then I already do now.

And if you do not want to give these corporations money then don't buy their products.

I wonder how AK-47's could be purchased with the amount of money it takes to buy just one F-15? I remember something about 80 + being sold to Saudi Arabia alone.

We haven't even started about helicopters yet.

When we talk about selling military hardware, I've gotta believe the US is a high ranker......dollar wise.

Wolfhound...OLD SAYING HERE.......It is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

That's the mindset a hoarder uses. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about. My wife's family is the perfect example of it!

Johnnyt: I used the AK as a point trust me they sell 100's of Mig29 Fulcrums, T-80 tanks, and I will not even start on the MI-24 Hinds they sell 60+ recently sold to that guy slaughtering his own people over in Syria, not to mention the rockets and bullets he fires out of them. I never denied we sold weapons, we are just far more selective about it, and no where near as much money as some would lead you to beleive but then they would not want to let the air out of their own balloons then their argument might be proven as false like so many of their promises

Wow! They released a picture of a stealth drone on the flight-deck!

Nice things about aircraft launched against a supposed target...

1. They can be RECALLED prior to dropping their ordnance or redirected to another target...

2. They can be reloaded and fly another mission, within hours...

3. The carrier aircraft do not have to be flown half-way around the World, depending on available in-flight refueliers for a SAFE return...

4. Unlike the subs or missile silos, that shoot their ordnance load - ONCE & then have to GO HOME to be reloaded. An aborted mission results in NO reusable weapon, after launch...

Unfortunately the USN has only enough crews & aircraft to out-fit 9+operational carriers. China has ONE- operational/training carrier and 2+conventional power carriers being built and a nuclear carrier that will be completed by 2020...

Currently there are less than 90+B52 and less than 30+other US long range bombers. During Vietnam there were almost a THOUSAND...

The US Nuclear missile subs (Ohio) are half-way to the end of their service life, with NO replacement selected & none being built, 18+operational. The US currently has around a TOTAL of 53+operational subs and almost half are @ the end of their service-life... BTY - China is completing a new sub every month, over 70+completed and even their diesel subs can be equipped with nuclear missiles...

Ok some will say the Chinese subs are sub-standard to the USN. Tell that to the TWO USN Carrier Captains, after Chines subs surfaced within spitting distance of them. This was during operational exercises... see or defencetalk.com/forums/navy-maritime/chinese-sub-trailing-us-carrier-again-7023/

This is just the tip of the Iceberg.

Our military is going to be decimated by the sequestration budget cuts and Obama and the Progressives love it. They will be the first to scream bloody murder when they need the military to confront the terrorists at their back doors.

Don't thread on this previous ENTERPRISE sailor.

This is a good start but much deep cuts need to happen. We aren't protecting the US from terrorism with these carriers and our foreign bases. These policies are creating terrorism and they need to stop. We also need to cut off Israel because our alliance with them is costing us billions of dollars a year and making us less safe.

Does anyone remember speeches about war and the MIC by Marine General Smedley M. Butler and Dwight D. Eisenhower?

Hi Ed. That's the first thing I noticed.....a UCAV on deck. I believe they are going to start take off tests this year. Not sure if landings are planned at same time. New era in carrier aviation. But definitely the HST would not be in the Persian gulf with the UCAV on board. Must be a recent photo though.

The Canadian Navy's prototype X-47B carrier-based Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle ... Naval Operations Adm. Roughead saying he wants UCAVs operational by 2018...

The US Navy has been testing the UCAV for years & is currently awaiting official approval for X-47A shipboard operations...

Many systems are available to a Fleet/Group Commander, when he perceives a need...

Nothing like a successful operation using a prototype, for future sales...

You know it's a sad day when we get our a$$e$ handed to us by China and their new aircraft carriers.

Congrats, Divider-In-Chief - your reckless fiscal irresponsibility has finally manifested itself in a tactile weakening of our country's national security. Oh well, you people voted for him - have fun! I'm just counting the days before I can move to Switzerland.

All I will say is that I have been watching this for a long time, since I have "Skin in the Game".

Some of you really need to:

From President Obama's 2013 Inaugural Speech:

We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/21/16626094-obamas-inaugural-speech-the-full-text?threadId=3650897&commentId=73569137#c73569137

And:

Newsvine's "Get Smarter Here" is a Forum for Adults to Discuss Facts, not a Blog for Opinions.

From Newsvine's Code of Honor:

Address issues and arguments and refrain from making personal attacks.

Newsvine's primary purpose is to provide a place for people to share and discuss topics relating to the news.

http://www.newsvine.com/_nv/cms/info/codeOfHonor

Also:

Too many voters embrace feel-good propaganda that they want to hear instead of learning the basic facts about issues they care about. They should do a better job of calling out dishonest politicians -- and shunning media outlets that stoke political food fights.

http://money.msn.com/investing/11-things-wrong-with-congress

Stop confusing your "Opinions" as "Facts"

Common Definitions from Dictionary.com:

Fact, noun

1. something that actually exists; reality; truth.

2. something known to exist or to have happened.

3. a truth known by actual experience or observation; something known to be true.

Opinion, noun

1. a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty.

2. a personal view, attitude, or appraisal.

Opinion See Definition of Prejudice:

Prejudice, noun

1. an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.

2. any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable.

3. unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group.

I have previously posted the Facts before pertaining to these matters:

March 2009 President Obama's Failed US Policies that Resulted in the US And US Allies Losses of Strategic Resources Worldwide, US And US Allies Losses of Strategic Locations Worldwide, US And US Allies Losses of Key and Strategic US Allies Worldwide.

April 2009 President Obama as Commander In Chief Ordered US Military Budget Cuts of the USAF F-22, One USN Aircraft Carrier Strike Group, and etc.. The etc. being the Funding for Maintenance of Aircraft, Ships, Submarines, Vehicles, Weapons Systems, Facilities, etc.; and the Sustainment Funds for Food, Water, Ammunition, Bathing Services, Laundry Services, etc. during Two Wars (Iraq and Afghanistan) and President Obama's Secret Wars, and what it was like here.

And, I have previously posted FACTS about the effects of Cuts to the US Defense Budget:

Pricey Jet Fighters Add Up To Local Jobs

CBS Evening News: Funding For F-22 Jets Is On The Chopping Block, But Building Them Keeps 95,000 People Employed

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/25/eveningnews/main4893248.shtml

And just like Occupy Wall Street, the 99%ers (actually a vocal minority) that don't know where daddy's and mommy's money is coming from to pay their bills, as directly or indirectly part of the almost hundred million too expensive overpaid US Civilians of the US Defense.

I stated the reasons that Secretary of Defense Gates stated during his last visit here, that he was tendering his Letter of Resignation in protest of President Obama as Commander In Chief Ordered Reduction In Forces of 90,000 and the layoffs of 108,000 DOD Civilians; just like Secretary of Defense Penetta's reason for tendering his Letter of Resignation as, 2012, "A 10% Defense Budget Cut will result in a Million (US) Civilians becoming Unemployed", with President Obama demanding a 11% US Defense Budget Cut and the US Military chopped by 50%.

Federal Spending:

60% Entitlements

20% US Defense

13% Discretionary Spending

7% Interest on Loans (like interest on Loans from China)

I told all of you that the US Defense Budget is NOT just the US Military and what the ADVERSE Results were before when President Clinton believed that the Cold War Era US Defense, US Intelligence Agencies, and US Military were no longer needed.

With President Clinton as Commander In Chief Ordering the Chops to the US Defense Budget so that the US Army Corps of Engineers Longterm Infrastructure Projects within the US were no longer funded, like Dams, Bridges, Water Reserviors, Dredging of Streams and Rivers, Sea Walls, Berms (earthen levees like those at New Jersey that saved homes during Hurricane Sandy), Irrigation Canals, and especially the recommended building new, maintenance, repairs, upgrades, etc. of the Levees at New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina, per US Congressional Katrina Hearings, as to why the US Army Corps of Engineers were exhonorated (President Clinton Ordered the chopping of the Funding).

Previously, the Director of the CIA Bush, that later became President (41), had built up the US Intelligence Agencies that were the Envy of the World, after the Fall of the USSR and KGB.

President Clinton (42) Gutted the US Intelligence Agencies that left the US Blind and Deaf to the Events leading up to the 9/11 2001 Attacks, per Bipartisan US Congressional 9/11 Commission (Committee) Investigations, Findings, and Recommendations, with former President Clinton saying, "I'm a so sorry".

It took President Bush (43) from 2001 to 2003 to rebuild the US Military that President Clinton (42) Cut to the Bone, for President Bush (43) to accomplish President Clinton's US Policy Overthrow of President Hussein as 2003 Operation Iraqis Freedom in accordance with President Clinton's US Law, H.R.4655 "Iraqis Liberation Act of 1998" Section 3 US Policy Overthrow of President Hussein, Section 2 Findings (Justifications), Weapons of Mass Destruction. This is NOT opinion this is from Firsthand Experience with my arse at Iraq since 2001 Operation Viking Hammer, 2002 Operation Hotel California and the very start of 2003 Operation Iraqis Freedom as a United Nation's Mission.

Read all of the pages of the Referenced links below:

H.R.4655:

http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1057063/posts

President Bush (43) Mission Accomplished Speech Unedited:

http://articles.cnn.com/2003-05-01/us/bush.transcript_1_general-franks-major-combat-allies?_s=PM:US

October 2001 Afghanistan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arxKhJIjIiY

2001 Operation Viking Hammer the elimination of the Al Quada, Taliban, Islamic Jihadists, combined with the Kurdistanis PKK, HPG, KGK as Ansar Al Islam:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/041018/18excerpt.htm

2002 Operation Hotel California:

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol.-54-no.-2/operation-hotel-california-the-clandestine-war.html

1998 Operation Desert Fox:

http://www.defense.gov/specials/desert_fox/

Operation Cyclone, and from experience and not the opinions of non participants we did NOT train fund etc. the later 1990s Fundamentalist Islamic Taliban, Al Quada, nor Osama Bin Laden (that was still living with his rich Saudi Relatives):

http://andfurthermore.com/afghanistan/index.html

US Military Training Teams to US Ally Iraq during the Iran Iraq Wars, rotated to Operation Cyclone. Of the almost thousand of us that started from then, only a few dozen of us survived till now. We are NOT bragging, we tell all of you this (the "War Stories"), for matters of your survival, we want you to survive so that you can replace us.

ldo - Don't thread on this previous ENTERPRISE sailor.

Did you sign the petition to get CVN-80 named the USS Enterprise.

ED-2874315, Blackbird,

Read the Caption on the Photo:

Kristina Young / Handout / EPA, The USS Harry S. Truman at an undisclosed location in the Atlantic Ocean in December 2012.

Old information, as stale intelligence.

Innkeeper - I am sure khan there is nothing you consume that passes through the suez canal,

Just research the President's Own Executive Intelligence Agency, the CIA, internet site, you might figure that out (Strategic Value of the Suez Canal to the US):

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

Innkeeper - You can learn a lot from being boots on Ground.

And when did they (US Politicians, US Civilians) ever listen to us (the US Citizens of the US Military participating, our arses on the line) about anything.

cynical175 - That happens when you want to be the worlds bully, sorry I mean police man.

And when were you protesting, demonstrating, etc. to get the US out of the United Nations. United Nation's Missions: French Indochina, Korean War, Vietnam, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, Sudan, etc.. You really think we (US Military) like being the United Nation's Military B!tches. With the Chinese and USSR (Russian Federation) laughing their arses off at the US and US Allies (deaths of Citizens of the Military, Resources, Money expended).

johnnyt - That's the mindset a hoarder uses. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about. My wife's family is the perfect example of it!

Sure use that same mentality, throw away that obsolete M-16 or M-4, while in combat and wait for the new replacement. Like I mentioned CVN-65 being Decommissioned and scraped 2012-2013 with replacement CVN-80 as a replacement completed 2025.

Your logic, you are going to sit on the toilet from 2013 until 2025 for a roll of toilet paper.

You NEVER get rid of something until you already have the Replacement Fully Operational.

epistemologist - Does anyone remember speeches about war and the MIC by Marine General Smedley M. Butler and Dwight D. Eisenhower?

Sure, Two Hypocrites.

Smelly Butt because without the MIC his arse would have been charging German Machineguns with muskets during WWI. Do you even know why Smelly Butt was doing that (giving speeches); what was going on during that time, and what were the US Military Veteran's Benefits at that time; if he did not give "popular" speeches for money at that time his arse would have been out on the streets begging.

You want Facts, go research Bonus Army, Great Depression, US Military versus US Military WWI Veterans.

General Eisenhower a product of President FDR's created current US Military Defense Industrial Complex that thru the Sales of War Materials to England, France, Russia, China, etc. in exchange for tons of Gold, Silver, Raw Materials, etc. got the US out of the Great Depression 1939 before US Entry into WWII, 1941; with General Eisenhower without the US Military Defense Industrial Complex having to borrow wooden row boats and bolt action rifles to do the D-Day, Normandy Invasion; and after failing NEVER becoming popular to become US President.

As President Eisenhower, he dismantled the US Military Defense Industrial Complex resulting in the Unnecessary Deaths of US Citizens of the US Military of Task Force Smith at the start of the United Nation's Korean Conflict as well as the many defeats and retreats of the US Military until the US Military Defense Industrial Complex could be restarted to produce the necessary US Military Equipment again. It is NOT as if you can just flip the light switch and the US Military Defense Industrial Complex starts, it takes months to years, to rehired that many US Civilians, Let Contracts, Establish Manufacturing, etc..

epistemologist,

Go study real (boring) History starting with the US Army Military Academy (West Point) Studies, and not some propaganda embellished sensationalized non factual opinions.

We have the smallest military in terms of uniformed troops since pre-WWII about 3 mil. But we have a DOD budget larger than the next largest 100 countries put together. Why ? We don't believe any plane can have value if it costs less than $10 million, and we really like the ones that cost $35 million and more. We have bases in 100 countries. Many where the citizens have a higher living standard than our people. Why are we subsidizing them ? We believe we have to build a mega million dollar theatre management HQ in a sandy country to control war activities in a country nearby, only to find out afterwards it works better if the geeks at McDill (which already was in place) in Florida do it, so the HQ in the sandy country only watches on huge TV's what the guys in Florida are telling the drones nearby to do. We shoot at a solitary sniper on a mountain with $200,000 missiles fired from a weapons carrier that cost another hundreds of thousands and has a crew of 3 or 4. Whoops, made a mistake and killed people at awedding ? No problem, have a JAG officer go to the village with suitcases of cash for the victims families. We took jobs that used to be done by $18k /yr troops and privatized them (Cheney's model) so now the security guard (used to be an MP) is a contractor making $100k and every four of 'em is supervised by a guy making $200k. God only knows what his boss is making. We have 1,500 Admirals and Generals now. In WWII we had 14 million in uniform and only 450 Admirals and Generals. do the math on that ratio change. Work is being done now at officer ranks 3 and 4 ranks higher than those same responsibilitites required 2 decades ago. We have procurement and weapons development officers who help contractors secure contracts for stuff we may not need and magically end up working for the contractor at several times their military salary. We had plane loads of money dropped into Iraq and Afghan and simply disappear off the scene and the books. Nobody knows what happened to it. Just disappeared. Posters on this site have reported their observations of fraud waste and abuse. We airship already bottled water 10,000 miles to Iraq (the fuel burned is worth more than the water) while reserve engineer units sit in the US with equipment that can purify 1,000 times the quantity of local water for a tiny fraction of the cost. And you have to pay the retirement of the reserve troops who were never activated because contractors did the job instead. Why ? So a corporation can make millions selling water to the Troops.

And they use that language. Everything is characterised as "for the troops" because when they say it that way, all the fraud watse and abuse gets a free pass from bubba all the way up to the Senators. Now there is a cutback and out come the threats. We're all gonna die in our beds from terrorists if we don't authorize more fraud watse and abuse "for the troops". And it will probably work !

Hello Innkeeper, there are many articles listing the US as the biggest arms dealer on the planet, even Wikipedia has the US listed as the number one arms dealer on the planet.

America, arms-dealer to the world

Munitions is the one U.S. industry that's booming -- with devastating global consequences

By William Astore

We are uneasy no more. Today we take great pride (or at least have no shame) in being by far the world’s number one arms-exporting nation. A few statistics bear this out. From 2006 to 2010, the U.S. accounted for nearly one-third of the world’s arms exports, easily surpassing a resurgent Russia in the “Lords of War” race. Despite a decline in global arms sales in 2010 due to recessionary pressures, the U.S. increased its market share, accounting for a whopping 53 percent of the trade that year. Last year saw the U.S. on pace to deliver more than $46 billion in foreign arms sales. Who says America isn’t number one anymore?

Trust: Only a fool would trust Wikipedia as a source of what is number one, the fact that anyone can write up an article or edit one, and no one outthere actually checks the facts to verify them, means I would not be trying to use them for a source. But since your wanting to villify your nation more then you wanting to show facts and in-depth research. I speak from the point of seeing these weapons produced by , Russia and china being used....against ourselves and other good people around this world. But when people have Wiki they don't care about people who have their knowledge from first hand accounts.

David 102001:

Why havent you called Obama yet to help him reduce the unemployment since you have it all figured out? I guess you figure your money is better spent on these social welfare programs while they sit at home and are non productive and cant even pass a drug test. Awesome. I would prefer my tax dollars go to defense. North Korea is already developing a Nuclear Weapon to hit the U.S. So i would rather have these carriers out there at sea that would shoot them down vs. waiting for them to re-enter the atmosphere and hope we can knock it down then. It always good to have a fail safe system. Kind of like an aircraft. There are back-up systems incase something goes wrong.

Military spending accounts for hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs. Those calling for draconian cuts appear to prefer to pay people to do nothing (unemployment) than to pay them to actually build something for the national defense.

Hello Innkeeper, while I agree that Wikipedia isn't the world's facts almanac, like I said it is one of 100's of articles that make the point that the US is the number one exporter of military hardware. Face it we are no longer the shining city on the hill. In our short history we have bombed over 65 countries and we have been at war for 217 of our 236 year history. Does that spell peace loving, no it spells Imperialism. At a minimum we are a fascist country that has merged the corporations with State. The sheeple that support this warmongering are complicit in the deaths of all the innocent men, women and children. I don't know of one person who has gone to war who supports war in any fashion. Patriots don't follow tyrannical leaders blindly, they point them and if necessary move them back to the constitution.

Trust: Most "journalists" today do not beleive in giving the facts and letting people decide for themselves, they prefer to tell you things that stick to their own agenda. I speak from my own personal experiances which have carried me around the world in the last 20 years since I left High School. When you speak to me of what you see and live with first hand, not from some person with their own agenda.....yes the sad state of American Journalism, then I will listen closer. And while I do not think our country is perfect, I do beleive the ideas atleast of those who put their lives on the line are in the right place.

George Washington said back in 1796 : "Beware of Political Parties for they will divide the Nation" we have fallen into that spot today. Neither party has the best intrests of the people in mind only their own agenda, yet this is what the forums have become is each group slamming the other, and not really fighting for " We the people".

As he neared his resignation, George Washington wrote a letter to the nation. He warned of the danger of political parties, and how they would turn the government from a group of people interested in their nation's future to a rabbling mob of power hungry professional politicians.

Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not
have, nor do they deserve, either one.
-- President Thomas Jefferson.

Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom must, like men,
undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
-- Thomas Paine.

I have supported it, have you?

Hello Innkeeper, everyday I support our country by exposing the tyranny that is decimating our country from within. I will not support a war that is designed to expand the breadth and domain of the Oil, Banking and Corporate cartels which since WW II have been 99% of the wars.

Following corrupt leaders into combat doesn't make a person patriotic, it makes that person ill informed.

Wish it were that easy. Until we develop our own fuel sources in North America we are stuck with our head in the sand and our fleet(s) in the gulf of nowhere. For now...send the bill to Exxon.

Yep, the military was certainly a waste after December 7, 1941. They did not do a thing did they to protect the US.

Translation=Phil is an idiot

Pretty sure 1940's Europe will disagree.

You wouldn't think it was a waste if someone attacked the US. The military is an insurance policy - nothing more. The question is, how much insurance do we need?

I vote that we send Phil Greene over to live in Iran! He won't last long there!!

And who is someone? The Chinese? Their's is the only standing army on the planet capable of such a move. And how will they get here? Millions of them are going to walk across the Pacific Ocean? Or perhaps hide in shipping containers aboard COSCO cargo ships, then jump out when they reach Seattle, Oakland and Long Beach?

Have another helping of paranoia!

..u lefty loon cluelss lib...do u live in bizzarro obama land?? Yes, lets cut the ONLY real job govt should be involved in, defense, as long as we dont cut medicaid to crackheads and deadbeats like u.

Phil.Greene..How old are you? and where do you live, mars....I'd bet that you couldn't even find the persian gulf on the map....

Ignorance is bliss.

hard to believe there are so many people who will excuse any military expenditure because of wwII, such tools, this guy had it figured out over 20 years ago, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1Z0CLD0kfI

Hey now everyone be nice Phil will be more then happy to answer everyone as soon as all the people with jobs and money shre their wealth with him, it is the least we owe him.

Phil. Do you even know your history. I guess that militia that was banded together to fight the British was a waste to. Or geez, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor maybe you would be speaking Japanesse right now. Maybe you should go to the Middle East and be the diplomat there and change the minds of all those who want to do harm to this country. Your first stop is Iran, then on to North Korea, then to China, Russia and a few other stops. Godspeed to you on that journey.

NOBama2012-1216201

And who is someone? The Chinese? Their's is the only standing army on the planet capable of such a move. And how will they get here? Millions of them are going to walk across the Pacific Ocean? Or perhaps hide in shipping containers aboard COSCO cargo ships, then jump out when they reach Seattle, Oakland and Long Beach?

Have another helping of paranoia!

Might want to do some research on the Navy they have built and continue to expand. Russia already has one and building it up as well. I guess we will be safer with no military and no guns huh. If they do come, we can offer them food and jewelry and gifts and just hope they are not like the white man that went west and slaughtered all the indians. You Liberals live in your little bubble and want everything handed to you for free and despise anything that you dont agree with. No wonder this country is going to sh@t in a handbasket.

Currently the Chinese DO NOT have the capability to support ground troops away from their areas of control. Just give them a decade or so; they just started building C-141 type aircraft, already have control of large fleets of container vessels and are building Blue Water troop transport ships...

China currently controls BOTH ends of the Panama Canal and has access to deep-water ports in Venezuela, Pakistan, Africa, etc. These countries/areas also have & are recipients of large quantities of Chinese/Russian weapons systems...

China (Thanks to POTUS Clinton see'China Gate') already has the capability to keep the US Carrier fleets 2,000+miles away from their homeland (DF-21d). And their nuclear tipped missiles are capable of hitting anywhere in the USA...

Ever wonder why the Nuclear powered Russian ship visited Venezuela???

Or why Venezuela had to have those radar systems or missile capable subs???

Or why Pakistan has been stagging 'War Games' with China for almost a DECADE now???

@ ED-2874315: Great catch on the X-47B.

Most of the armchair experts expounding above neither noticed nor cared about a development in progress which will eventually revolutionize warfare, culminating first in warbirds capable of pulling more "G's" and carrying a bigger loadout than any manned aircraft.

Detractors may say that a robot can never equal a human in combat- that the size limitations of the computers involved make it impossible to even approximate our intelligence.

The fact remains- it's stealthy, well armed, more fuel efficient, and it can be remotely directed by an AWACS or a ground station via satellites, so it already has the benefit of that intelligence- and it has a far better sensory package than mere meat- it see in all directions simultaneously, night or day, clear or cloudy- and its reaction time depends on electrons, not chemicals.

If I were using such a device as the cornerstone of my air supremacy, "combat" with another meatmind wouldn't even come into the equation- because the first thing I'd do is destroy all opposing airfields from extreme range in the middle of the night with a "suicide" mission.

"Lacking" a pilot, you can also field an aircraft with twice the range of one that has to come back- it's expendable, and if you can lose three units as Kamikazes instead of twenty in dogfights, it only makes sense to prevent the enemy from ever launching whatever they have sitting in the revetments (think "really large, fast, and stealthy cruise missile that can also destroy anti-aircraft missile batteries on the way in").

So...what are the implications of this massive change in tactics for, say, an entire carrier battlegroup, or even just an autonoumous submarine with no air-filled hollow areas inside of them?

No depth limit, infinite loiter time, huge payloads, unconventional profiles, and parasitic support drones carrying passive arrays which can operate above and below a thermocline simulataneously- and relay information about everything going on around you.

Didn't you ever even wonder why we are training up legions of teleoperators with something called "video games"?

The world is changing.

Change with it, or go under.

Sequestration was congress not the President. They spent the money, they have to pay the bills.

You must mean thanks Little Bush. I have one Question. Are we the only country in this world with a Navy? We keep the oil flowing for the rest of the world. China gets most of that oil, YES. So let China either pay us to keep the oil flowing, or let them send there navy to help out. What about UK, Germany, and anyone else that gets that oil. Why do we have to pay that total bill?

Have we forgotten the infamous "Mission Accomplished" episode by dubya with Highway to the Danger Zone playing on his walkman as he landed.....in the passenger seat I might add!

China does have naval ships in that area.

Chuck, you ought to pay closer attention. China IS building a navy, liberally funded by a balance of trade war with the US, and build via massive doses of stolen/hacked US technology. They are nationalistic, expansionist, and NOT limited by the western concept of fair play. Look at a map of what they claim their territorial boundaries in the Pacific Ocean include. Per their map, they own Manila suburbs. They want the oil and other resources in the central Pacific. They are already playing chicken with ALL their neighbors, Viet Nam, Philippines, Korea, Japan, Singapore. Shades of Japan 1935 all over again. Does anybody think it's ironic that the Vietnamese government has quietly approached the US for help with hardware. We are transferring old but functional P-3 maritime patrol aircraft as a token of our concern. Don't be naive or blinded by your dogma. Watch China's actions carefully, and ignore their politicians. They lie more convincingly than George Bush.

CHUCK- excellent post and reasoning!

I really think you are on drugs or you were born in TX. No one is friend of Iran except Hezbollah in Lebanon. As for this economy, your boozer president (Mission Accomplished) started two wars without paying for it, and on top of that he gave tax cuts to the people who really didn't need it. The truth is that we have been keeping all these vessels in the Persian Gulf just to make sure our puppet rat eaters stay in power as kings. They will give the oil companies a real discounts but the companies do not pass the discounts to the average consumer. Instead, they spend some of it on lobbyists, elected officials and media to keep them all happy. Just look at the headline of this section. On the front they just use the word Gulf. That would please the rat eater camel jockeys who's drivers father most of their kids while they spend some of that money on white whores from all over the world.But the author when he gets here then you see the word "Persian" appears on the headline. Some of you people talk about nuking here and there, like you are talking about a game on your computer. Those days are gone. We vote for our officials but we never know how many other well qualified people are around that do not have connections and cannot raise money to get on the ballet. It is an illusion to think we are electing such and such. May be it was true at the beginning many moons ago, but not now.The reality is the wealth is the dictator here like other places on this planet. Even your faith is based on money. Look at all these churches and the size of the diamond rings on your evangelists hands! Sooner or later all these rat eaters going to be out of business. Then we will have two choices. Either blow up the world or decide to have a real democracy and then transfer it to other countries without any expectations from them. How many of you folks on the top noticed a couple of years back when the majority of Bahrain (where we keep our navy) started a peaceful demonstration and our puppet rat eater from Saudi sent his military over the there by using the bridge and beaten up, burned homes, jailed and even killed many of those people who were in Bahrain 1000 years before British Government brought these rat eaters from Saudi and gave them the land and called it Sheikdom of Bahrain. Later on, they as well as others like Kuwait, Qatar decided to call themselves kings while we stayed quiet and did nothing to help the average people over there.One day we will pay for our sins. Who is paying for all these injustices and who is benefitting from it? You figure. WE HAVE THE GREATEST DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT ON EARTH THAT MONEY CAN BUY.

Ray! Ray! Ray. That Boozer President you refer to kept your taxes lower than they are now. He gave some credits to some industries but at that time it was what was needed. I'm sure you loved the far lower gas prices back then compared to now, didn't you? He paid me for my time over there and that kept me both employed AND kept a roof over my head...MY ROOF!

Man! You are all over the globe with your post. Someone else jump in and have a whirl at this guy. Geez! Let go a little.

We keep the oil flowing for the rest of the world. China gets most of that oil, YES. So let China either pay us to keep the oil flowing, or let them send there navy to help out.

And, when the Chinese navy does start roaming the world, you'd probably among those who will complain.

Keeping the oil flowing isn't a favor that we're doing for the rest of the world. We're doing it for ourselves. Oil is a commodity. A disruption in the supply anywhere in the world affects the US, too. Even if we don't get our oil from that source. Gulf oil is cut off? Then the Chinese and Europeans will go shopping for the oil from the same places that we get our oil, pushing OUR prices up, too. Even if the US were self-sufficient in oil, we'd be affected unless we made exports illegal.

Chuck!...just how ignorant of the world and foreign policy are you, answer...just about as ignorant as the skunk in the white house...

Ray...and all this time i thought chuck was the ignorant one, my bad.

Greg your just tilting at windmills as is every other vetran on here, most of the people who are always against the military are those who have never served and do not have the intestinal fortitude to stand up for anything they beleive in that is why guys like you and myself and these other vets do it, why the 5% in this country protect the rights of the 95% so that they can tell us how we have wasted our lives and they are sick of spending money for the rights and benefits we worked hard to earn in the contracts we signed and shed blood, sweat and tears with our brothers and sisters in arms.

yes the USA is becoming a weak nation

China has been fielding their 'Blue Water Navy' with the UN/USA 'Anti-Pirate Operations' in the Indian Ocean, for almost a DECADE now...

Their first operational/training aircraft carrier is now ACTIVE and their DF-21d 'Anti-ship hyper-sonic missile system' has been OPERATIONAL for over 2+years...

29Jul2012 - Chinese destroyer crosses through Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea, on its way to Syria. The Russian, Chinese & Syrian Navy were scheduled to hold Naval maneuvers in the Med...

The China Navy is very active in the South China Sea, just last week-end they were painting Japan Naval ships with their 'TARGET RADARS', while the Chinese ships were in Japan's territoral waters. Vietnam & Indonesia are currently @ the UN with protest on Chinese incursions into their territorial waters...

Just because the US Media does not report these & other occurrences of AGGRESSION by China, does not mean they are not happening...

Reducing the federal workforce by 10% will barely make a dent in the budget. If you don't believe me, look it up! Most of the budget is Medicare/Medicade, Welfare programs, and Social Security. Reducing the workforce by 10% is what the politicians do to make it look to the public like their doing something.

If all federal workers were turned into slaves, only given bread and water, the budget would still be out of whack. The programs that really matter aren't the ones benefitting the 1% of Americans, the federal workers, it is instead the one benefitting the 99% of Americans and the American public will not stand for any cuts there, just like they didn't care if people making more than $400,000 had to pay more in taxes, because it does not affect them. You can't cut anything that affects everybody and you can't raise taxes on everybody because that is not politically popular so the masses pick on things like "Get the federal workers." Retired federal nuclear engineer living on a $1680 a month take home pension, yes that's less than the guy across the street got for unemployment.

Patch:

While you are correct about the 10%, it also helps much more in terms of long tern retirement benefits -

THAT having been said, I think the savings seen out of those 10% will be MORE than offset by the Dream Act" (Amnesty) recipients, who would now be eligible for entitlements.

I, for one, dont like the idea of a 1 carrier middle east. I just hope there are enough subs in the region to pick up the slack...speaking of which, we need NO carriers in the Pacific. China and NK can be handled with subs.

THAT being said, I DO believe that the 1-sub Middle east is just a scare tactic - more probably they dont want to step on the toes of defense contractors who are building unnecessary systems but paying off politicians and putting workers to work in their districts.

How about freezing politicians salaries as well?I know it would not do much but,it would symbolize that everyone is on the same boat.

How about withdrawing all our military assests back to Hawaii.All we need is the sub base there.The rest can be scrapped.Sell Guam to China to offset our debt.(Maybe we could bundle in Midway and Wake Islands too)Let's pull out of South Korea and Japan and abandon them to the Chinese.We could also get the USAF to shut down those Arctic early warning station as we don't need them any more.The weather stations could be sold to civilian agencies.We also don't need NORAD anymore so we could sell it to Colorado as a mountain ski resort.We could also shut down assets in Greenland and Iceland.(since we will never deploy troops or aircraft to europe anymore.)Shut down that SOSUS line between the G-I-UK gap.The Russion subs are no longer a threat.We also don't need the POMCUS sites in europe anymore for divisions that no longer exist.(sell them to the Egyptians to go along with the 20 jets fighters)Don't worry folks.The world is a peaceful place now and we have nothing to worry about.Our politicians will be the frontline for our defence from now on.

Wolfhound!....I hope your just being cynical and not serious...

Of course i am...LOL sorry.I've been in the military almost 30 years..

I am glad to hear that someone knows what some of the things i mentioned are.Most people have never heard of a POMCUS site.I went to one once as an inventory team.They didn't say it would take 2 months to get the job done.

Wolfhound, Coyote you both should know that the enlightened people who know better about how the world and our society runs do not understand sarcasm, it is not Politically Correct.

SO was the 27th Your first inf Rgmt or the one you were in the longest? Myself my only Inf time was with the 126th but today they are Cav.

Innkeeper,I doubt you will get this but i will try anyway.My 1st sqdrn was 3/12 CAV!!After that i was conned into going to OCS.Upon completion of OCS i tried to return to Armor but Infantry was the only option at the time.I have been in many Infantry BNS(including a RangerBn)but,The Wolfhounds was the 1st BN that was mine.I was supposed to retire this month but,I took a hard hit in December 2012 while visiting troops the day after Christmas.I don't know when i will retire know.I hope to see you posting here in the future.the nurse just informed me that it is time to call it a night, so with regret i must surrender this lap top and get some sleep.Good night and remember,Once CAV always CAV. Out

i apologise for the typos.The fog is getting a little heavy right now.yes i am on drugs..just the legal kind where my hands don't do what i want them to.lol

I think the part I worry about there is that thing about the Politicians running a bunch of stuff out there in the world when the military is no longer on the site. Now can you imagine how long it would take for things to crash.

I propose that we all quit this griping and start campaigning to vote against the incumbent, all incumbents, whether your's is a problem or not. After two elections our government would be a totally different animal. Actually just the campaign would scare them to death, let's do it people.

The POMCUS site @ Diego Garcia, where I spent 4+weeks deassembling CH53s & CH46s, so they would fit inside of C-141s...

Plus Guam, Saipan & South Korea were being drawn down by the US Army, during the 1990s...

The other prepositioning sites are in Eastern Africa and several in the EU...

Currently the US is trying to receive authorization to use Asian harbors for these ships and establish a Marine Base in Australia...

Wolfhound: I follow you a whole lot better then you think. :) I started offin Aviation working as a scout in Oh-58's which I earned a secondary mos for, getting Shipped to Korea where i was a crew chief and later Maint TL on chinooks for the Innkeepers. I have just shy of 10 years Active time with 10 in the Guard, I have been a 15U, 15V. 45K (first Guard mos), and while attending college after OCS (I did not take my commision due to not having enough credits nor an financial aid at that time.) I was an 11H and today I am a POC chief with a HIMARS Btry. I also understand your time right now being fixed as I am currently in the MEB process myself after being injured on my first Deployment in 05-06 and it getting worse on my second in 10-11. With the only option to fix the injuries in my back being surgery they opted to medically retire me, which as I am TDY at Knox right now they tell me should be complete within 8 mos. So I take the time to work on a teaching degree and spend my time with family, I wish you the best in your endeavours and hope you will get more information on your retirement soon, and I wish you a speedy recovery.

Sir,i didn't mean to make it sound that you would not understand.My meaning was that you might not get the message at all.ok?Look me up if you can at a later date as i have no clue as to when i can get computer time.You may find it entertaining to know that even a Bde Co cannot get away with everything.This mornings escape attempt was twarted by my inability to make it to the elevator on my own.(much less push the apropiate button)(did'nt make it that far either.)Take care.U6 out.

Wolfhound: I am sorry if I offended you.....I am sitting here down at Knox on TDY for medical appts and kind of cranky over it, We are in the out of sight out of mind section of the WTB because all of us are CBWTU and so the locals are not concerned with us. Despite my being a fulltime college student since I can do my job for the army they have me away from school for 3 weeks for a weeks worth of appts and way too much down time. So sadly I get lots of time to check these out, especially since I can only do so much homework not being in class. Our out of sight people range from E-4 all the way up to an O-6 who just finally got out of here because he has to go to Iowa for some appts at the UofI. So I feel some of your frustration, but if you like I can get some of the others gathered up here and are bored while waiting and we can stage a breakout for you, wouldn'tbe the first since I was in this program. Which has had me at WTB in both Stewart, here and Rock Island. Again I wish you the best of Luck and a Speedy Recovery.

Iranians will grab that X47B, jamm it's GPS, end up at an Iranian airbase,

Great

Maybe if they ask nice, the government will sell them the carrier for 1$.

The Iranians would tell our government they would use it for fishing and i am sure they would believe Iran.

IMO - Requiring a Carrier Group to sail through the Strait of Hormuz is just a provocation being used to start WWIII...

These deep water ships and subs would be sitting ducks in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. Todays missiles and drones would make short work of a ship in these shallow & restrictive waters...

Even now the US ships and subs are colliding REGULARLY with other surface ships & US naval assets in the Persian Gulf & Strait of Hormuz. The last reported incident - US Nuclear sub collides with merchant ship 11Jan2013...

While the Phalanx is a impressive defense system, it has limited amounts of ammunition and its target radar has KNOWN limitations...

So we should shut down all military operations because we don't have to worry??????????????????????

GCCal, the military wants you to worry about the Bogey Man, so that they can prance around on your dollar and chase the Bogey Man. They have to keep you afraid all the time, or they are out of business.

So answer the question then if there is not a bogey man.......................

Not really GCCal. The USA is the only real Bogey Man, today.

Hey Phil Greene! You ready to lead the world in singing "Kum-by-ya"?

You want to call it the Bogey man, that's ---stupid ---- but you can call it that. Read some history.... It is full of what happens when the "bogey men" came knocking.

We are the Bogey Man that has come a knocking for years where we don't belong. Think the Middle East and Central America and Vietnam, and the South China Sea, et al.

Sad little man.... Lucky for your children that enough people realize that their are countries out there that would make life in America pretty crappy if they thought they could get away with it. American politicians share the same greedy attributes that politicians in other countries have.

I wish it was not that way, but to be quite frank, I would rather make sure my kids, my family, my community, my country was a safe place to live.

We have the cheapest and fastest delivered mail in the world. If we are bad, what is all the other countries?

Phil Phil Phil. Put down the cool-aid. To the medicine cabinet. NOW. You KNOW what the doctor says about skipping the noon dosage.

I can't WAIT to hear your explanation when China invades Japanese territory and TAKES oil deposits at gun point, relying on its "not a bogey man" brand new modern navy. Blinded by dogma, or by ignorance?

Yeah we do have fast mail, The Internet, but so has everyone else.

I forgot China is our new Bogey Man. Mr. Moderation. Never mind that everything I own came from there.And it is all good.

Exactly Phil, these people are so brain washed they don't even realize that to the rest of the World WE ARE the bogey man. People need to study recent historu Post-Pearl Harbour and understand that the US has had its hands on alot of dirty @!$%#e around the world. Some people here still think we are the good guys. Guess what you have been fooled by Politicians that only care about keeping the Military Machine going. Which means $$$.

Also people don't understand that The USA is so embedded in making wars that it can't stop because if it stops factories that make Bombs and other military equipment will close. People will lose jobs. If we close bases people will lose jobs. If we dont have a war, people will lose jobs. How many millions of Americans depend on conflict and war to pay the bills? We have become dependent on war. That is the truth. Sure we need a military but we don't need 20% of what we currently have. It's a waste of money for the majority of Americans unless of course you are one of these military families many of which have nice big homes all piad for by creating war.

Regulator-6689192

We have the cheapest and fastest delivered mail in the world. If we are bad, what is all the other countries?

They aren't $16 trillion in debt. Their currency isn't worth only 4% what it would buy 50 years ago either. We've overspent, over borrowed, and over reached. Time to pull in our horns, come home, and secure our own borders for a change.

How many countries have a welfare system like ours?I am not talking about social security or medicare.I am taking about welfare and medicaid.Spare me any liberal answers please,I just want to know how many other countries have the same social services we do.

Phil....Id rather that we be the "bogey man" rather than china or russia, or anybody....I like being the bogey man....yeah it costs us money, but where is it written that freedom is free or should be cheap....I spent some time in that little conflict in se asia a few years ago...it was originally fought for the right reason, but it was fought the wrong way...same same iraq and afghanistan.

Coyotehunter,may i ask what state you are in?

Lou: I am going to be polite, you are a putz! I personally have been in many many other nations and talked to people in those nations, guess what not as many as you think beleive we are bad people, more then your brain washing friends will ever let you learn actually like us and appreciate the help we have given them. I think you and phil are skipping the same doses of your meds and you may want your Dr to up the dosage and have someone come administer it on time daily.

I hope Phil Greene is the first one drafted then he will change his tune.

sorry Mark but, a 4F is a 4F.

And then that President will kick the can and then the next will kick the can and then they will have managed to kick the can over the cliff to insolvency. Hurray.

Remember the BALANCED BUDGET that POTUS Clinton promised us???

As he was IGNORING the BOMBINGS of US Assests around the World: Africa - 2+Embassey & USN Cole, Saudi - Kobal Towers, USA - Twin Towers, etc. But he did have his 1998 WAR and used more 'cruise missiles 'than any president prior to him...

While 9-11 was being planned, funded & terrorist transported into the USA, during Clintons watch;

1. The Social hand-out recipiants - received theirs...

2. The US Forces later arrived into Iraq with sub-standard body armor and Hummers with junk-yard armor & sand bags...

Actually I think its the next 20 combined, but after those top 9 you are talking places like Canada that could pretty much go without a military altogether and have no worries.

Teague, you just make this stuff up as you go? Tell me with a straight face what the Peoples Republic of China spends on it's military. Not their published propaganda crap; what they REALLY spend. As Mark Twain said, there's lies, there's damn lies, and there's statistics.

If the Bushmaster had not gotten us bogged down in TWO wars and burned through a couple trillion dollars in the past twelve years, things might have been a bit different.

George Bush put us in a hole so deep they we may never get out. Every business he ever had failed. As a US president he totally failed. I hope someday we can get back to where we were, but with the way the world is now, and all the really crazy people in congress, I seriously doubt it.

And Obama has kept it up in the middle east the last 4 years and add in Africa with Libya, Egypt, Syria and now Mauretania and Algeria, boy that's a geat job, along with Obamacare who most don't want. So now our debt is deeper in tha last 4 years than ever before. As far as cutting 10% from the DOD, good idea, they will all go on unemployment and see wht that does to the unemployment statistics. 7.9% and holding, how can it be that number for the last two years with the 5 million jobs he says have been created?

Can't carry attack aircraft for one thing.

Oh, such things as have a floating hospital able to move to any number of locations as needed... A Helo squadron to rescue seaman or drop off doctors and supplies... Fresh water ability.. Power generation over and above what the ship and crew need.....

Ever hear of a carrier group? A carrier isn't out there alone. They have escorts and other support ships along. Reading some of these comments, some have no appreciation for our military. Everything has to be lowered to political crap.

I had no idea that there were so many people on here who have absolutely NO idea what our Military individual missions do! Just the current Oblunder in Chief,.."did you know that the Navy has ships that go under the water!?" uh Yes Sir, they're called Submarines, and they are referred to as Boats! and Carriers have aircraft take off and landing capabilities and is called a ship, destroyers mission is just that, to destroy, and their cannons are long range, also a ship, etc. We have our own tankers to refuel the ships and boats, along with air tankers to do in air refueling to maintain mission readiness. Since Pearl Harbor (nor Harbour) we sworn never to be taken by surprise like that again. The Japanese thought to destroy our Navy, instead, they crippled us because they forgot that our submarines were out patrolling, otherwise they would have succeeded. Yes, I do know my military history as I come from a 10 generation military family, am a Navy Brat whose father was a 32 year career Sailor/Mustang who was a Navigator on both Nucs and Boomers. I myself assisted in training F-18 pilots and WSO's. It is what I was born into and to do! Our U.S.Navy and the other services are the best in the world, next are the Israeli's..their pilots are awesome; then the Canadians, then the Australians, then the Brits, then the Germans; I guess now the French are showing their muscle.

Actually there is a post office on the Aircraft Carrier and on every military base in the world. The ones on the Carriers and overseas are run by Military Personel, and every Unit has a Mail CLerk who handles and delivers the mail for the people in that unit. It is amazing how much morale goes up and service people feel better when they get a letter or package from Home.

OOOPS did I just burst your bubble?

NO NO BOb let me handle this. Congress is dazzled with the NAIVE comment that the Seas must be freeeee to american ships .. this is a 1950 idea of the USA. NO longer applies since the usa is now infiltrated by foreigners and the american families that clutch control have homes in out lying countries. soon the whole BUBBLE called america will be imploding leaving the balance of power corrected. /. sorry but it has to be.

Bob...You'd better just take care of your own backyard, living in the murder capitol of the world i'd think you'd know a little more about defensive tactics....

Coyote he does know aboutdefense He lets someone else protect him because he gave up his right to protect himself to beable to live in Chicago, Because it is a safe place to live because we have taken all the guns out of peoples hand.....see it is safe to live here.

Panetta is an Obama appointee, he and his staff tell the DOD what they can spend not vice versa. So de facto it's Obama doing most of the manipulating, as usual.

next 10 nations? Google military build up by Russia and China in the areas of new sub development and deployment along with aircraft carrier construction/deployment by china as well as both countries pressured design/testing/deployment of new fighter and stealth jets. And don't forget Putin's announcement of joint military exercises with China.

Both China and Russia have no means to project any power.

That Chin AC is by no means a blue water craft. It is re-furbished Soviet rust bucket with steam turbines and only enough fuel capacity for 45 days at sea.

With no FOB's save the South China sea, that is no threat

The Chinese and the Russians are building up quite a considerable modern military force. But they are doing it for a tiny fraction of the money the US military spends. The US just doesn't get very much for its money in comparison to other nations. To a large extent, that's the US government's fault. They haven't had to budget carefully or bargain aggressively with suppliers. It is well past time they learn how.

That Chin AC is by no means a blue water craft. It is re-furbished Soviet rust bucket with steam turbines and only enough fuel capacity for 45 days at sea.

Back in the 1980s a US top admiral, I don't remember his name, spoke at a congressional hearing and one of the things he mentioned was the life span of an aircraft carrier if it went to war with another super power. He stated at most it would only last for a few months. Now think about that Chinese rust bucket verses an expensive US carrier. China may lose a cheap relic but we would lose our shirt.

Seems that sa soon as our great and dumb congress Can't get together again.. You sould check what other countries spend on their military.. Before saying any thing about Congress and the president.. These leader always cut the military budget and then $h t hits the fan.. Think about it.

Never mind the lives of those on the Truman, thrown into chaos!!!

Gary K-2697770

Never mind the lives of those on the Truman, thrown into chaos!!!

They signed the papers. They deal with it. I did. If they don't like it they get out when their enlistments are up. Lives in chaos? Sailors in the Navy during WWII wouldn't see home for YEARS, were frequently under the threat of horrible death and didn't have e-mail, internet, TV, video games, etc... Hell, I didn't have those things in 1991 during Desert Storm!

sho, thanks for proving comrade obama's trolls will gladly comment,

on anything they don't have any knowledge off!!!

BigRed - military reinforcements can show up soon enough as needed? Tell that to our dead Americans in Benghazi.

Comrade Obama? you mean the dronemeister ?

Ka-CHING. good one, Leel. If you dig into the world of government contracting a bit, you'll eventually be led to the question: what moron agreed to "cost-plus" contacts for a trillion dollars worth of military hardware. Great if you're a Lockheed Martin stockholder, not so good if you're a taxpayer.

leel...finally a logical post.

Leel - you do know that alot of those "civilian contractors" were once military who have produced employment for those getting out of the military!; right sport!? you knew that right!?

Debbie: Yes they are, and yes they are still way over paid, and the companies they work for supported by both Dems and Repubs are all getting rich off the people, there happen to be military jobs for everything they do, they are not needed. Imagine how that money could be used elsewhere or trimmed out of the budget and wow the saving but then those politicians getting money to push the need for the contractors would not be getting the kick backs they do and both sides have their hands dirty in this.

But you knew that right??

Leel: you are 100% right on that deal I hated going outside the wire while contracters made 3 or 4x what I do and are doing soldiers jobs so those same soldiers can be sent outside the wire to do something else then what they were trained for.

the carrier wouldn't last ten minutes in south Chicago. Safer in the Arabian Sea. Nine more shootings this weekend, on track to exceed the 2012 total. No need to add one dead aircraft carrier to the statistics.

Same cost? Distance plus time equals money. You're not even close to right.

Troops in a War Zone receive TAX FREE money and some receive COMBAT Pay...

Just one carrier has over 4,500+people on-board...

Then there are the requirements to resupply these ships. There is a big difference in the cost of a US supplier compared to a Foreign supplier...

Flight Operations off CONUS is sharply reduced. Maintaining a high flight tempo/hours & the associated required maintenance, are VERY EXPENSIVE...

what a weird post, Warrren. Ever been in a men's locker room, Warrren. Do you like movies about gladiators, Warrren?

sweaty oiled up gladiators

No, its not the military job to find a solution to Global Warming, that's up to the paranoid liberal scientists.

The point is we do not have any more resources to focus anywhere. This isn't saving money to spend somewhere else. It is just cutting spending. Global warming will just be ignored.

that's up to the paranoid liberal scientists

ROFL

Now THAT is paranoia......scientists forming political conspiracies!

Tiffy! Tiffy! Tiffy. Go back into your studio and work on your 2-step. Leave the bad air to the people who know what their talking about...and it is just talk.

DancerTiffy

Hooray. This is long overdue. Our military is way too huge. We need to focus our resources on combating global warming.

You lib's are a trip. Let me ask you this. If Al Gore is so concerned about global warming, why does he fly around in his private jet and ride around in huge SUV's. There was a piece a few years back about his house being so huge and his electric bill close to $1K a month. Sounds like he really buys into his own bullsh@t. I have another question for you. If you are so concerned, do you walk or ride a bicycle wherever you go or do you just jump in your car? Do you lower your thermostat to reduce your energy consumption? Gobal warming is a hype. Maybe you should ask all those in the New England area that is going to get a few feet of snow this weekend about global warming. Do some actual research and stop working towards you BS degree through Google. The world has gone through climate changes for thousands of years.

The earth does not know about conservative or liberal. It does not know about politics, oil company profits or coal company revenues. It is just the earth.

If you pump green house gas in, just like you car in the sunshine, it a gonna get hotter.

Keeping with the military theme, it is just like trying to turn the biggest aircraft carrier. You turn the wheel and she just keeps on a going.

Thomas Freedman and Al Gore said inthe 1700 with the industrial revolution, we started pumping in CO2 faster than nature could take it out, Then in the 1950s we stepped it up a order of magintude.

The earth does nto care about the industrial revolution or the cutting of the Amazon.

If you pump in the CO2 it just gets hotter.

The damage is already done. If there are mass drought and crop failures, the earth does not care. it is just the earth.

If we turn around today, we are talking about a 300 year effort to swing the pendulm back the other way.

Buckle your straps, the ride is going to get bumpy.

Isn't it about time the USA pull all foreign aid to aid the USA!

Scott...maybe they could sail that flatop up the rio grande and protect our borders..you moron.