XII is just a number, no more no less. I have to wonder how many times the country has thought there would be a peace dividend after a war. How many times they cut the military in every possible way. Personnel, weapons, ships, aircraft, tanks, trucks, howitzers, APCs and future weapons development. But for the 4th time in my life it is about to happen again. The Army about to loose 50,000 men & women, the Marines 16,000 mean & women and cuts to the Navy & Air Force personnel accounts. There is a real chance for another round of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC). The thought of a congress that has so little military experience among its members trying to figure out what to cut and what to close and what to stop and what to proceed with is unfathomable to this lowly retired soldier.
The things that take place at the most upper levels of the Pentagon whose task it is to find a way to cut $500 billion from the defense budget over ten years is daunting. Things like "comprehensive strategic review", Quadrennial Defense Review, 5 year budget cycle, think tanks in and out of government put in their $.02 worth on every subject. Then decide what to keep and what to do away with. Cuts in personnel numbers is the quickest way the DoD can reduce spending, so as always that is what will happen first. Then comes the hardware
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