Service Chiefs Warn Against Further Cuts to National Security

Testifying before Senate,General Amos calls  cuts "a formula for more American casualties."
Admiral Greenert says "we're tapped out."

Military Joint Chiefs Warn About Budget Cuts
The Associated Press

"This is unsustainable," Gen. James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, told the lawmakers, referring to curbed spending for training, equipment and force strength that the Marines face. He called those cuts "a formula for more American casualties."

Admiral Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, bemoaned the reduced number of ships the Navy will be able to deploy and said, "We're tapped out."

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In his testimony.... Gen. Raymond Odierno, the Army chief of staff, said the Army is already shrinking its force from a high of 570,000 during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to 490,000. It would be forced to drop to 420,000 if the sequesters continue, he said.

The Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Mark Welsh III, said he would have to reduce flying hours by up to 15 percent and reduce his service's number of satellites. Greenert said the Navy could have to cut its fleet to as low as 255 ships by 2020, about 30 fewer than today, while Amos said the Marines' 186,000 troops would shrink by the thousands.

Fewer Troops, Less Gear: Services Chiefs Lay Out Specifics of Budget Crunch

Stars and Stripes

The eventual result, said Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos, would be more combat deaths. He predicted Marines would someday be sent to a combat theater and forced to stay until the end of the conflict.

“We would empty the entire bench,” he said. “There would be no rotational relief like we had in Iraq and Afghanistan. Marines who join the Corps during that war would go from the drill field to the battlefield without the benefit of pre-combat training.

“We would have fewer forces, arriving less-trained, arriving later to the fight. This would delay the build-up of combat power, allow the enemy more time to build up their defenses, and likely prolong combat operations altogether. This is a formula for more U.S. casualties.”

U.S. Service Chief on Rhetoric: I'm a Realist, Not an Alarmist

Defense News

As he closed his opening statement, Odierno made clear he disagrees with analysts and some lawmakers who believe the Pentagon budget — nearly $600 billion with war funding — can absorb more cuts.

“I do not consider myself an alarmist,” the Army chief said. “I consider myself a realist.”

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“We will reduce system upgrades for unmanned aerial vehicles. We will delay the modernization of air defense command-and-control systems. If reductions of that magnitude continue into [fiscal 2015] and beyond, every acquisition program will be affected,” Odierno said. “These reductions will significantly impact 100 modernization programs.”

For the Navy, Greenert said “investment accounts will be particularly impacted by sequestration in [fiscal] 2014, and we will not be able to use prior-year funds to mitigate shortfalls as we did in [fiscal] 2013.”

Greenert said “reductions imposed by sequestration and the limitations of a [continuing resolution] will compel us to” take steps such as canceling the planned buy of a Virginia-class attack submarine in 2014, as well as one littoral combat ship and afloat forward staging base.

“Each of these would further worsen the reduction in fleet size,” Greenert said.