Following Department of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s February DOD budget proposal, which looks for long-term reductions in overall defense spending but represents a short-term hike above spending levels automatically cut by last year’s budget-sequester deal, operators were similarly mixed on the proposal.
“Shrinkage of the armed forces is not the answer,” wrote one commenter under the poll above, conducted here at OverdriveOnline.com. “Those in power will overcommit and stretch the military to the point that the soldiers and sailors will get out. They did it to us in the 70s after Vietnam.”
[related-post id=”65001″/Others were more specific in criticisms, suggesting a need for better evaluation by DOD. “The government needs to assess what risks exist in the world, decide whether military force is the solution, then fund appropriately,” wrote Steve S. McQueen. “The USA defunded the military after WWI and was thus unprepared for WWII. Spending for intel and combat readiness should be the priority. It does no good to have a billion-dollar piece of equipment if the soldiers/marines/airmen/seamen can’t operate it effectively.”
