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Jeopardize US War Readiness The Daily Caller The threat of sequestration and looming budget deficits is already impacting the military readiness of the US, according to some defense analysts. A recent Defense Department memo outlined the difficult steps the armed services must take to cope with the nation's perilous fiscal situation. The memo recommended that the department fire administrative personnel, cut down on research and development, and cancel routine maintenance checks for naval ships. "Cancel 3rd and 4th quarter ship maintenance availabilities and aviation and ground depot level maintenance activities," the memo suggested. The maintenance recommendations are particularly worrisome, and impact the US's naval preparedness, said Brian Slattery, a defense expert at the Heritage Foundation. "The military is already having trouble in some circumstances meeting its readiness requirements," he said in an interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation. "Maintenance is already a pretty significant concern, particularly with the navy." Past maintenance deferments have already put a strain on the fleet, he said. "You have to spend more money on maintenance because your ships, your planes, your tanks are getting older and more worn out and they have to go into the shop more often, sort of like an old car," he said. "It sort of builds upon itself." The memo also warned that sequestration and budget uncertainty would be particularly insurmountable for the Defense Department in case of war. "Either of these problems, in isolation, would present serious budget execution challenges to the Department, negatively impacting readiness and resulting in other undesirable outcomes. This situation would be made even more challenging by the need to protect funds for wartime operations." A recent letter from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to Congress put the matter in no uncertain terms. "The readiness of our armed forces is at a tipping point. We are on the brink of creating a hollow force." Secretary of Defense nominee Chuck Hagel, whose confirmation hearings began Thursday, is expected to preside over a gradual decline in funding for the armed services. This is the wrong approach, Slattery said. READ FULL SOURCE ARTICLE: 02/04/2013 Editor's Note: The sequester agreement...perhaps the most imbeccilic move the GOP has ever made... The BasicsProject.org informational and educational pamphlet series is now available for Kindle and iPad. Click here to find out more... The New Media Journal and BasicsProject.org are not funded by outside sources. We exist exclusively on tax deductible donations from our readers and contributors. Please make a tax deductible donation today.
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