Democrats’ slow, steady assault on the American military — by guestblogger COL. USAF (RET)

Here I sit with no computer access and a phone delivered just two days ago — and a job  to do, but no resources with which to complete it.  Why am I in this predicament? Before last week, I was productively working for the Navy trying to integrate kinetic (shooter, missiles, things that go boom) with the non-kinetic (things that don’t go boom, more computer and/or electronic) options in the defense of our military.

Why should you care about my plight?  Well, because it was a result of the the Democrats’ Defense Budget reductions.  The contract I was working on was not funded for this year.  It was approved, but because of the reduction on budget, some things had to go, and my contract was one of them.  Again, you ask, why should I care?

I have heard about the tremendous influx of new government workers, but none of these workers affect what I’m doing.  American Thinker says that several thousand have been hired to process the paperwork resulting from the new government programs that are forecast.  But that doesn’t mean that Defense is getting any more money and labor and, in fact, I know from experience that Defense is losing personnel, at least contractors. Not just contractors were cut back, though.  While I, luckily, am lining up for another position, writing doctrine for the Joint Forces, i.e., all the military forces, entire projects have fallen under the budget axe.

I personally know of several experiments, or projects, that were under development that will not be brought to fruition because of the budget crunch. My own project had the possibility of aiding immeasurably the defense of USN ships at sea. It’s true that nobody will be immediately affected because these projects have been cut.  If that were the case, they probably wouldn’t have been cut, because the bleed would have been too obvious to the public.  It’s also true that, because the US military is very capable, the work I was doing will, eventually, at some point in the far future, be accomplished.  The problem is that, during this drawn-out process, more men and women in the US military will be at risk for longer periods of time.  In other words, the delay caused by budget cuts will literally kill our troops.  Let me explain.

These delays kill them in two ways.  First, there will be a huge delay introducing equipment, resources, and techniques into the field.  If those were introduced quickly, they would save lives.  Those new advantages would save some number of personnel.  Second, and this one is psychological, our adversaries feel that they have a reprieve, which gives them time to develop more techniques themselves. Afghanistan is a perfect example.

This situation  is made worse by the fact that the MSM, which disdains anything military or American (an attitude the current Congress seems to share), approves of this reprieve as much as our enemies do.  This attitude alone gives aid and comfort to those who try to kill us, and keeps them in the game longer.  We know this happens, because it happened in Viet Nam, it happened in Iraq, and it very likely is happening in Afghanistan.  Extended military action (and now that Afghanistan is President Obama’s war it must be won, regardless of cost) coupled with a delay in introducing new technology into the battlefield results in more body bags.  If those body bags were stacked up at one time in front of the White House, or Congress, then Defense would definitely have a greater priority.

I know that this post has been very limited in scope, but it addresses a matter that concerns me deeply.  I was in uniform for 30 years and spent the last 10 as a contractor.  This is my life.  Am I biased?  You bet!  Do I care about Cap and Tax, Porkulus, and Obamacare? Yes I do, especially since I am getting to the point that those death panels will be meeting for ME.  But for all that, I would take some substandard medical care and maybe even pay more for energy if I could be sure that the young men and women in the field got everything that they deserved.

So, why am I writing this?  What can we do about it?  Simple:   Vote the . . .  ahem, buggers out of office.  Don’t worry about how your Congressman has seniority and can get more goodies for you and your town.  Grab a healthy handful of spin and get rid of them if they are destroying our military /country.  Believe me, if our military goes, the country, at least the one you want to live in, won’t be far behind.

Well, I am surprised, I got through this without any curse words, and kept my temper, mostly, through it.  Sometimes it is amazing what us crusty old military types can do.