Military Pay and Benefit Cuts on the Table
By William J. Dell, MCPO USN(Ret.) – 22 June 2011
Amore Dei, Familiae, Patriae ducit !
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen has stated that Military Pay and Benefit Cuts are on the table as they consider reducing the Defenses Budget by $400B over the next twelve years. (See Adm. Mullen’s remarks at www.military.com/news/article/mullen-says-pay-benefit-cuts-on-the-table.html)
How history repeats itself! When I retired in 1986 after 25 years of service, my “promised,” “oral contract” free medical benefits for life for myself and family were already being decreased. And now I have to purchase Medicare Part B before my TriCare for Life can pick up the difference as secondary rather than primary medical insurance. Additionally, military retirees have had no COLA increases for several years. Adm. Mullen whatever happened to “to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and orphan?” (President Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865.) Of a truth the servicemen and women of our nation have already sacrificed more than any other segment of this nation!
Where is the President’s sacrifice? Where is the sacrifice of the Departments of Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health & Human Services, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and Energy? All of these department were unconstitutionally created in violation of the Tenth Amendment. The sum of their total budgets is 45% of the federal budget proposed by President Obama.
Where is the sacrifice of the Senators and Representatives? Where is the sacrifice of the perpetual bureaucratic staffs of the Congress and numerous other federal agencies which are so large now that they create work rather than accomplish work just to perpetuate themselves and their cushy government jobs. Where is the sacrifice of the nation’s “entitlement recipients” of a plethora of social-justice programs?
Where are the metrics of their sacrifices? Let us see how it balances with the following metrics of the sacrifice of “those who have borne the battle.”
I repeat, our servicemen and women have already sacrificed. A sacrifice measured in years of service, in years of family separation, in constant transfers, re-locations and deployments, in arms, in legs, in emotional well-being and in lives! They have sacrificed while being maligned and forgotten by a thankless majority of an ungrateful nation down through the years. They have sacrificed because of political-correct policies and regulations that destroy force readiness and cohesiveness. AND NOW Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen wants them to sacrifice again NOT BY WITHHOLDING INCREASES IN THEIR PAY AND BENEFITS BUT BY SLASHING WHAT THEY CURRENTLY RECEIVE.
QUESTION: Adm. Mullen where are you going to find volunteers for the next decade’s all volunteer force to man the war machines, planes and ships you want to save at the expense of “him who has borne the battle” and to the benefit for your military contractor buddies? You certainly have removed ALL incentive to volunteer!
Before we ask our servicemen and women, “those who have borne the battle,” to sacrifice AGAIN, let ALL those others listed above bear their share of the sacrifice for the good of their nation and the preservation of our Constitutional Republic!
May God Bless and Save the United States of America!
Our Constitutional Republic
