Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, announced Tuesday afternoon that the service would downsize the number of Brigade Combat Teams from 45 to 33 by 2017, reducing the Army from a high of 570,000 to 490,000 soldiers.The division of these cuts will be fairly even over armor and infantry brigades across 10 bases, though that balance may shift in the coming years, he said. Despite the cuts, however, Odierno pledged the Army could still defend the country.
"With the forces we have left over, we have more than enough than we need to respond," Odierno told reporters at the Pentagon. He expressed his faith in the Afghan National Security Forces to continue to lead operations in Afghanistan.Whose fault is the sequester?Both the White House and Congress, Democrats and Republicans, signed off on the agreement leading to the sequester.Here’s the background: In the summer of 2011, Obama and Congress were in a high-stakes stand-off over the debt limit. House Republicans insisted on spending cuts before increasing the debt limit. This was a notable change from the past, when members of Congress from both parties would pass debt ceiling increases with relatively little fuss.Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner tried unsuccessfully to reach a "grand bargain" to put the federal budget on more stable footing. When that failed, they arrived at the much less ambitious Budget Control Act of 2011.
look at the things that are affected by sequester notice they are things that Pres. has supported and the right wing had not with the pentagon budget being an exception, note who has the track record for screwing Americans especially since Nov. '08 when they declared no help and the sinking of gov't and the Pres.
remember when Pres. brought this up it was thought to be so devastating that even the republicans wouldn't allow it, he was naive again by giving the right wing the benefit of the doubt, when he should have had nothing but doubt.
Odierno also warned that more across-the-board sequestration cuts could require further Army reductions.
"The force structure can meet defense strategic guidance," he said of this leaner Army's ability to carry out the Pentagon's planning guidelines. "Sequestration would force another analysis of whether we can meet this strategy or not."This reduction in soldiers will affect bases in Colorado; Georgia; Kansas; Kentucky; North Carolina; Texas and Washington, Army officials said.
if this is true and we are capable of defending ourselves, with sequestration then why could this not be permanent and that money saved would allow a humane gov't to redirect the money to help with those Americans who are not able to have that right available of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
