With President Obama’s signing of the $680.2 billion dollar Military Budget in 2009, the military have begun to downsize. This started by having four out of eight regiments of troops come home from the war. What this means is the United States Military ground forces are going to be cut by 47,000 troops. The Air Force is planning to cut over 2,300 Officers.
According to Col. Julie Biota (on the website Military.com), officers are going to be cut from the following areas: Line, Judge Advocate General, Chaplains, Biotechnology, and the Medical field. When these officers are cut they will have an option of leaving on their own will, which will result in them getting 1.25% more money from the military than they normally would if they were forced to leave. This operation is called Early Separation and the Air Force is the only branch taking part in this.
In a CNN news interview, Defense Secretary Gates stated, “ Even with the cuts, the military personnel will still be 40,000 personnel larger then it was in 2006.” Gates also commented on the $15 trillion taken from the Marines amphibious landing craft program. When asked where the money taken from this program would go, Secretary Gates said “The military would be turning the money to buying drones (unmanned aircraft) for the military’s use.”
The men in uniform aren’t the only ones that will be affected by the military’s budget cut. Retirees that rely on the military’s health insurance will be dropped because it costs the military money for each insurance policy that they hold and to save the money they are going to cut the insurance portion. All this is going to be in effect by the year 2015. It started in 2009 with the signing of the budget bill.
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