Fairly steep Department of Defense cuts announced

[Valin]

Hot Air:

Jazz Shaw

September 30, 2015

 

Congressional negotiators have come up with a plan to cut costs at the Department of Defense which represents a compromise between proposals from the House and the Senate. Assuming this comes up to a vote and is approved there’s going to be a 25% reduction in the civilian workforce in addition to the introduction of a new retirement plan for the troops. Government Executive Magazine has the details.

 

(Snip)

 

There’s quite a bit more in the agreement to digest. The military would receive the same 1.3% pay raise which the White House proposed for federal civilian workers. That’s going to come as a disappointment to service members http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/benefits/pay/2015/09/04/2016-military-pay-raise/71632544/ to try to catch up with matching civilian pay rates. (Military Times)

 

(Snip)

 

This isn’t the most appealing set of options imaginable but since there was a general agreement that we have to trim costs across the board I suppose they had to come from somewhere. The worrisome aspect of all this is that it’s hard enough to attract and recruit excellent candidates to a life of military service as it is in a country which is pretty much perpetually at war. A solid retirement plan in an economy where many will have trouble keeping steady work in the civilian sector is one of the few features keeping us staffed up on the military front. These are tough decisions all the way around, but I hope these cuts don’t come back to bite us in the end.