And they would be demanding investigations AND his impeachment. They would be howling about Fast and Furious, the IRS/Commie Party suppression. They would be going bonkers and screaming bloody murder about how the President shut down the government because he refuses to talk. And of course they would be shitting bricks over him getting ready to violate the Constitution, the 14th Amendment, in a illegal naked power grab over the debt ceiling issue. And I disagree with you. He doesn't have to be white. Just be a Republican. A black Republican. Then you would also see the racism that the left tried to hide come out in full force........
Please inform us as to who or what is "desperate", lacking a budget that goes even further in excess of the entire world combined.
The U.S. military budget should NEVER be based on what is spent (allegedly, we do not really know how much is actually spent by many nations) by other nations around the world. It should be based on the responsibilities and commitments of the U.S. and be more than adequate to honor all U.S. treaties and protect all U.S. political and economic interests.
National Review had a comprehensive article about the massive underfunding problems of the U.S. military just two issues ago. They detailed that thanks to sequester, numerous U.S. fighter squadrons can no longer even fly training missions. The U.S. naval fleet, which the rest of the world (like it or not) depends on to keep the sea lanes open, has shrunk to its lowest level in a century. And the U.S. Army and Marines are strained under multiple, repeated deployments. People constantly bitch about how much the U.S. military spends. What they do not realize is that the bulk of the spending increases since 2001 have been due to costs of operations, mainly in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now you can make the argument that the U.S. should not have invaded Iraq (and many have), but that doesn't change the fact that the U.S. military desperate needs more funding to replace a huge amount of weapons and equipment, perform vital maintenance and to resume desperately needed regular training.
You keep using the word "desperately" but you're not justifying it. You stupid, warmongering motherfucker.
I've answered your question to any reasonable persons satisfaction HD. If you want to continue bleating "answer the question" you are simply guilty of rank intellectual dishonesty.
I'll have to side with Dayton this time. If you look at the actual missions and responsibilities given to the US military, it is undersized and underfunded for what's expected of it. You want to have a roles-and-missions debate, that's fine (and seriously needed) but taskings should drive the budget, not the other way around.
Hmm, so that means the US government desperately needs to raise the debt ceiling and borrow more money.
So back in the day, PsyOp fell under USACAPOC, US Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command, containing both Active and Reserve components. Doctrine was that we operated with a Company being pretty much the smallest working element and teams were 4 or 5 members. Then there was the Great Divorce. In the early to mid 2000s in response to Rumsfeld's focus on SOF (Special Operations Forces) there was a reorganization. The Active sides of Civil Affairs and PsyOp went to USASOC, US Army Special Operations Command, with the Reserve components staying underneath USACAPOC and serving conventional forces. This changed everything, especially for 9th Battalion, the Tactical PsyOp Battalion. Instead of operating independently we now operated attached to larger kinetic SOF teams (SEALs, Rangers, SF, MSOTs) under a CJSOTF (Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force). This was a pain in the ass as at least when I was deployed we had dual approval and command structures (our Company which was back at regional HQ, and also the unit we were attached to). In order to have PsyOp support for every SOF team (a SOCOM requirement) that meant we had to break down to 2 man teams. Which is really all you need for such a small unit. One person to go out on mission, the other to stay back and work on products (radio programs, posters, etc), write reports, do camp duties and all that crap. You just switch every other day. It works well with the VSO (Village Stability Operations) concept as along with the SOF team there is an attached infantry section, so everybody just splits down the middle, half of the SOF team and have the infantry support goes out, other half stays in, rests, does guard, cook, clean, etc. Anyway, with a two man team, you CAN'T have a vehicle as it takes two just to operate a vehicle in the military (one to drive the other as a TC/Gunner). Even if both guys go out on mission everyday they won't be able to do anything as they'll be stuck in the truck. And winning hearts and minds is impossible to do sitting in a truck, you've got be sitting on the floor eating goat spine and rice to do anything. So no trucks, we just hitch a ride with our supporting unit. For at least the last... 4 years none of our trucks have deployed. A whole battalions worth (I'd say ~100) of brand new 1151s (uparmored/upengined HMMWVs) sitting there going nowhere except the range or training areas for years. Well the HMMWV is being replaced. So 4th POG goes and asks for more money to replace their trucks. Word comes down from USASOC that they don't use the trucks they have, they aren't giving them new trucks. So what happens? When I came back from this last deployment, after Motor Stables on Monday morning you had to go drive your truck for 25 miles before you could get it dispatched. You have any idea how fucking annoying it is to drive a HMMWV in circles for 25 miles? I wonder how much fuel we burned. Is it still the case where the US military is the largest consumer of fuel in the world? So yeah. I take THE MILITARY IS STARVING!!!! routine with a grain of salt. But then again I let my subscription to Armchair General lapse so what do I know.
Yeah. Instead of proper butchering where you cut out the backstraps and tenderloins lengthwise, they just hack them up vertically (if the goat were standing) and then you get the vertabrae and all the meat around it.
A lot of people already do. A lot of people, especially of my generation, assumed he'd be some left-wing savior unlike the centrist he's always been. I laugh at them and I laugh at the conservatives who buy into the hysteria.
I've resigned myself to the fact that ill never be able to vote for a palatable presidential candidate.
Bush was center right, Obama is center left. That's what this country elects, which suits me fine. I'm not surprised you've hated both of them.
This country has an economy that isn't heavily influenced by government. So if by look at what they've done, you mean they haven't done enough, you could be right. But our political process intentionally makes this difficult.
No. I mean shit like Homeland security, TSA, NDAA, wars, meaningless laws, corruption, on and on and on. What's to like about the two fascists?
Yeah, I don't like most of that shit either. The problem is that once in place, it's hard to unwind. Take Guantanamo as an example. Nobody will take the prisoners, we can't release them, and Congress used legislative power to force it to stay open. Yes, Obama has carried on some of these policies, but the time to stop them were when the fools created them in the first place. Some of us argued against these things at the time, but too many who now claim opposition were in full support 10 years ago.
Hey, I'll trade waste fraud and abuse stories with you all day long. Silliness and inefficiency like that is part of any large bureaucratic organization. That's not the issue. The issue is expecting the military to be able to do A, B, C, D, E and F but only funding and sizing it for A, C, D, and E.
Instead of bitching about how our country should be more like Cuba or Canada or something, why don't you people who want a centrally managed economy just move to someplace where the state has its fingers in everything economically instead of doing everything you can to ruin this country? I know, they aren't as nice as the US. That is kind of the point. But once people like Obama manage to wreck this country it won't be a nice place to live either.
I've been lurking here for a while, even before the changeover, and I've noticed a great number of posters seem to rely on sloganism and not much else. JMNSHO.