"Our smallest ground force since 1940..."
With the failure of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, popularly known the Congressional "Super Committee," to agree on $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next ten years, automatic triggers for spending cuts are now in effect.
Embedded in the $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts is a scheduled $500 billion to be slashed from the US Armed Forces.
The Department of Defense is already slated to have $465 billion cut within the next ten years, totaling almost $1 trillion cut from the military.
Yet Barack Obama has vowed to veto any Congressional move to "get rid of those automatic spending cuts to domestic and defense spending." (See video, left)
Pre-WWII Levels...
In a press release from House Armed Services Committee member Florida Representative Thomas J. Rooney (FL-16), warns of "Devastating Consequences".
The Congressman also quotes a number of Pentagon officials in regards to the funding cuts.
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has stated that the cuts "would end most of our ship and construction projects. We would be left with our smallest ground force since 1940, the fewest ships since 1915 and the smallest Air Force in its history."
What The Service Chiefs Foresee...
1. The Commandant of the Marine Corps, General James Amos -- the cuts would leave America with "a Marine Corps below the end strength that's necessary to support even one major contingency," which would pose "significant risk" for the nation.
2. The Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Jonathan Greenert -- "some of the actions we would need to take would have a severe and irreversible impact on the Navy's future." He also stated that "the Navy will have to rethink some fundamental aspects of what our military does."
3. Army Chief of Staff, General Raymond Odierno -- "Cuts of this magnitude would be catastrophic to the military." They slashing of the Army budget would "require us to completely revamp our national security strategy."
4. Air Force Chief of Staff, Norton Schwartz states that additional cuts would mean "continued aging and reductions in the Air Force's fleet of fighters, strategic bombers, airlifters and tankers," resulting in "dire consequences."
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