Obama plans to cut tens of thousands of ground troops, page

" The Obama administration will unveil a "more realistic" vision for the military on Thursday, with plans to cut tens of thousands of ground troops and invest more in air and sea power at a time of fiscal restraint, officials familiar with the plans said on Wednesday. "

President Barack Obama will help launch the U.S. review at the Pentagon on Thursday, and is expected to emphasize that the size of the U.S. military budget has been growing and will continue to grow, but at a slower pace.

Overall, the Pentagon is preparing to cut more than $450 billion over the next decade to help lower the U.S. federal deficit. The number of wars the U.S. military is expected to be able to fight simultaneously is one area likely to be addressed.

Source / Alternative source

The strategic review of U.S. security interests will also emphasize an American presence in Asia, with less attention overall to Europe, Africa and Latin America alongside slower growth in the Pentagon's budget, the officials said.

Though specific budget cut and troop reduction figures are not set to be announced on Thursday, officials confirmed to Reuters they would amount to a 10-15 percent decline in Army and Marine Corps numbers over the next decade, translating to tens of thousands of troops.

It doesn't really matter if you bring the troops home or not, the wars will continue with UAV's and Airforce assets and Coalition Forces as demonstrated in Libya, since as stated the target area will be Asia.

This will probably be one keynote that he'll use in his bid for the Whitehouse along with ending the war in Iraq, so much for border security. Maybe we can start defending our borders then from the largest organized crime unit in the world, that would be a start.

reply to post by Daedal

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Seems he wants to replace the boots on the ground.

My bet is, they will replace those cuts in personal with Private Contractors.

No accountability with Mercs .

reply to post by Tw0Sides

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Makes sense, with the recent success of drone missions in the Middle East, especially Pakistan and Libya, who needs troops on the ground? Those road side bombs are taking too many lives. I bet the next to do on their list is building Mech Robots to combat ground troops, tanks, and bases. And with all the video game junkies (guilty) in the world they'll have no trouble finding recruits.

When I was in the USN a few years back they were downsizing personnel. The USN was not afraid to let someone go if they had a reason. At the same time the US Army was grabbing up all the sailors who got the boot and signed them up for big bonuses. Looks like the Army is going to be downsized as well.

reply to post by Daedal

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Why pay for ground troops? Invading a country by ground in this day and age with our huge Air Force and Navy as secondary options would be "dumb". The chances of us fighting by ground on a large scale in the 21st century on opposition land is slim to none. The only thing in need of protection would be the homeland against foreign invasion, we have over 300 million citizens willing to protect our home, there is no need for a large amount of ground troops when you have 300 million unpaid citizens to do the job you need done.

reply to post by Daedal

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I am seriously wondering why no one is mentioning the fact that after President Obama made that speech yesterday about changing strategies, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta got up and started discussing all of the things which will be strengthened or cancelled. He said on TV that the US military will be beefing up and using more things in Space. Keep in mind i am paraphrasing but he said that Space is an issue which will become more active. If anyone has the youtube link please post it so I don't feel like I'm the only person who picked up on this.

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