The Democrats proposed a bill that would fund the troops, and help to bring this war to a close. The Republicans in the House voted against it and the Republicans in the Senate did not allow it to go to a vote. They are the ones refusing to fund the war. They claim that the DOD needs the money to support our troops, but for some reason they are unwilling to take the money as offered.
Too bad, elections have consequences and they have to stop whining and telling us that they can’t accept the majority will of our country and of the congress. There are times when leaders have to lead and go against the will of the people, but in this case they have failed to lead and failed to convince the people or the congress that they are in the right.
The choice is simple 53 senators, four of whom are Republicans voted for the bill 45 Senators including Chris Dodd voted against it. If they can’t accept the funding in the way it is offered then, they are the ones holding money back from our men and women who have given so much to this country.
In the meantime, it appears that Defense Secretary Gates is having trouble figuring out how to live within the allocated funding, so I have some suggestions for him.
Fire some contractors. Most of our troops resent then anyway and they cost too much. We shouldn’t be paying them any more than our regular troops anyway. They make several times what the men and women in the uniform issued by the United States military earn, and yet are unaccountable for their actions. This is bad for moral and troop retention.
Send home the National Guard. If we send the National Guard back home to their families then the DoD will not longer have an obligation to pay those guardsmen their active duty salaries, and they can support their families by returning to their civilian jobs. The same is true of the Reserves. We need the guard in case of fires or hurricanes anyway.
Stop conducting combat missions. The DoD already has enough money to pay the troops salary and feed them, so they should be able to live within their budget by spending less time and material on missions. If our troops are not patroling, they will use less ammunition and probably less vehicles will need repairs due to wear and tear or IEDs. By reducing the risk to the troops we can probably save money on their medical expenses as well, and by reducing the casualties the military can spend less money on recruitment.
Find the money they lost. Perhaps before the DOD stops conducting missions they might be interested in finding some of the cash that has gone unaccounted for or recovering some of the money lost to waste and possible embezzlement from the contractors that they will have to fire soon. This should fund our new leaner military for years to come.
Ask congress to accept the current bill. It is clear that General Patreus and Secretary Gates are not above making political appeals to congress and the Republicans and the White House claim that they will listen to their Generals. The solution is simple if the military really needs the money it should ask for it and accept any conditions which the civilian government deems appropriate.
Plan for withdrawal. It is clear that the military will eventually have to withdraw. If they have a plan in place now, it will save money in the long run since they will be able get the troops home sooner, deactivate the National Guard and Reserves sooner and save the money it costs to deploy the troops overseas.
I think that if the Military can follow my very simple advice then they will have little trouble living within the budget they already have allotted. It would be nice if the Republicans weren’t refusing funding for the troops, but I have faith that our brave men and women and uniform will continue to persevere until Bush and his party choose to allow them additional funding.
