[inownsuipsy]

Gotta do some thinking on this topic. I'm too tunnel visioned with Japan right now. I would like to comment later if that is ok?

[Imagimifouxum]

So you are saying maybe:

4B for Marines (from 29B)
10B for Army (from 244B)
240B for Navy (from 150B)
220B for Air Force (from 171B)
50B for Intelligence (from 50B)
130B for general Defense (from 119B)
= 654B

versus the ~763B we pay now.

I guess that is some cost savings, I would want more though.

JM

[bromgeksan]

Keep the Corps at current spending levels. Marines are psychos, and it's best to keep them busy in foreign lands.

Cut the Army to 100 billion. The Army should be a training cadre like Lonestar said, and America's security is best guaranteed by rednecks with hunting rifles. For that reason, firearms and ammunition would be exempt from any consumption taxes we raise to replace the silly ass income tax. That'll cost money, but I don't know how much.

The Air Force needs to quit their ridiculous notions about manned aircraft. UAVs don't need life support, can make aerobatic maneuvers that would kill a human being, and can be lost by the thousands without losing trained pilots. As it is now, a fighter plane has to be nigh invulnerable to every conceivable threat. With UAVs we could just swamp enemy air defenses with cheap drones. The key is to make the drones cheap and to get past the Cadillac mentality of military procurement. They need to start thinking Honda or Toyota - reliable, cheap, and bland. They could do everything we need them to do at about 100 billion.

The Navy has similar procurement problems. There's no reason why the LCS is coming in at 600-700 million a ship. I'd keep Navy funding at 150, but I'd be ruthless with this sort of waste. They're better off with a big fleet of Hondas than a handful of overpriced prototypes.

Intelligence should be kept at its current levels, I suppose. We should withdraw from Western Europe, Afghanistan and the Middle East, and focus on keeping forward garrisons in Eastern Europe (Especially Poland and the Baltic) and Japan/RoK.

[251EPyso]

Triple everything raid and plunder.

[LomodiorCon]

My advice is sound. "Mind your own ****ing business" is the way to go. It makes the world stop hating you for ****ing with everyone, it saves you trillions of dollars, it saves American lives as they're not sent overseas to fight other peoples' wars...

Imagine how much better America would be if they spent $700B more a year on education and domestic services.

[neniajany]

My advice is sound. "Mind your own ****ing business" is the way to go. It makes the world stop hating you for ****ing with everyone, it saves you trillions of dollars, it saves American lives as they're not sent overseas to fight other peoples' wars...

Imagine how much better America would be if they spent $700B more a year on education and domestic services.

'

Screw that go viking.

[uncoodync]

As General Amos said a few months back before the House Armed Services Committee:

For approximately 8.5% of the annual Defense budget, the Marine Corps provides 31% of its ground operating forces, 12% of its fixed wing tactical aircraft, and 19% of its attack helicopters Wikipedia says 4% so I'm assuming General Amos is including the cost of support from the Navy in that 8.5%.

The US gets its most bang for its buck with the Corps.

31% of ground forces for 8.5% of the budget? How the hell do you not think the Corps is a veritable budget steal?

[irresseni]

Army fights on land
Navy fights on water
Airforce fights in the air
Marines fight on... land? They're just a miniature army with an ego problem. They're redundant.

[Filmania]

The Marines are hardly the best fighting force on the planet.

The Canadian Forces are more elite. THEY DO CROSSFIT.

As does the Marine Corps.

[Eunatis]

As does the Marine Corps.

Only recently. Always one step behind the Canadians. Let the Canadians go in first, do the hard stuff, then the Marines will follow.

[NETvoyne]

If we need an elite fighting force for something, we could always beg our Canadian allies for help. We already learned that red coats are easy targets. Who needs the freakin mounties?

Bunch of dudley do rights.

[wmzeto]

We already learned that red coats are easy target. Who needs the freakin mounties?

Bunch of dudley do rights.

The mounties are more akin to our FBI, who also just happen to do rural policing in the absence of a metropolitan police force.

I'd take a mountie over an FBI agent in a fight any day.

[InsManKV]

I thought you admitted that the rely on the navy for support?

Didn't I just say that since the Corps only accounts for 4% of the budget directly from the DoD budget that General Amos' 8.5% is probably including the cost of the support the Corps receives from the Navy?

How much is the cost of medical support? Is it over twice the cost of the Corps' operational budget? Seems too high but hey, Gen. Amos says 8.5%. The Corps has its own logistics, supply, finance, recruiting, etc.

The Marine Corps is renowned for its budget frugality, use of Army hand-me-downs, etc. It should not be surprising that the Corps is more effective with its budget than the other branches.

[SusanSazzios]

1) Kill the Marines
2) Kill the Navy as a whole. Mind your own ****ing business, stay in your own coastal waters.
3) Reduce the Army
4) Reduce the Air Force



From Jon's numbers:

0B for Marines (from 29B)
100B for Army (from 244B)
0B for Navy (from 150B)
100B for Air Force (from 171B)
50B for Intelligence (from 50B)
50B for general Defense (from 119B)
= 300B, vs the 763B you pay now

Maybe the navy could hold onto 50 billion. That still cuts the budget in half.

[OEMCHEAPSOFTDOWNLOAD]

Redcoats

[ssiikmuz]

Army hand-me-downs? I didn't know they also depended on the army for support.

Yeah the Corps probably still is using all the equipment that the Army abandoned at the Chosin Reservoir

[riverakathy]

In the case I remember, with the tweaked out pilot, the Canadians were in a training area. Of course, the fact that they were in a training area just makes the pilot's actions even more baffling.

Depends which incident you are referring to.

[MontyP@thon]

Army fights on land
Navy fights on water
Airforce fights in the air
Marines fight on... land? They're just a miniature army with an ego problem. They're redundant.

Marines play on the beach.

[refdhbgtd]

As General Amos said a few months back before the House Armed Services Committee:



Wikipedia says 4% so I'm assuming General Amos is including the cost of support from the Navy in that 8.5%.

The US gets its most bang for its buck with the Corps.

31% of ground forces for 8.5% of the budget? How the hell do you not think the Corps is a veritable budget steal?

Thats still disengenuous. In the case of the tactical aircraft for instance, I highly doubt they are including the carrier services provided by our CVNs and LHDs/LHAs whose operational and procurement costs are covered entirely by the Navy.

Also, while they provided 31% of the ground forces that is almost entirely light infantry. We can debate how much it is still needed, but the Marine corps is not going to stand up well at all against a peer competitor fielding heavy weapons and mechanized arms. Things like tanks and the like are more expensive than light infantry and thats the Army's bag.

In short, of course the Marines are cheap because their mission areas rarely cover the expensive portions of the overall defense budget.

[Jueqelyl]

I think you are not taking modern procurement times into account. Even allowing for the current programs having a lot of waste and uneeded delay, a major weapon system is going to require in the neighborhood of a decade in development before fielding. If its something like a ship or an aircraft it could be years more before it is at a level for substantial untilization.

There is no such thing as liberty ships or having your car factories churning out tanks after a few months of retooling.