wantsomechips

My question is in regards to retirement and healthcare benefits of active duty military. I have been active duty Air Force for almost 11 years now. I completely understand the need to cut back in spending with the national debt rising higher and higher. I completely get that. What I don't get, is how we're so quick to consider cutting healthcare and retirement benefits of active duty miltary, when there are SO MANY other ways to cut spending. Here's a paragraph from an article I recently read as well as the link to it. http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2012/March/Pages/TheComingDecadeASlowdownInSpending,butNo%E2%80%98ProcurementHoliday%E2%80%99.aspx

" Personnel expenses make up one-third of the Pentagon’s budget, but account for just one-ninth of the proposed reductions, said Harrison. Payroll and benefits costs have been on a steady climb of 4.2 percent annually for more than a decade, and will put pressure on other areas of the budget, he said. If funding remains flat and no cuts are made to compensation, healthcare or retirement benefits, by 2039, personnel costs will consume the entire defense budget."

So like I said, I understand the need to cut spending, but I don't understand why it has to be healthcare and retirement benefits. You say you're in charge of rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse. There is so much waste that goes on that I've seen day-to-day with my job, that it makes me sick.

So like I said, I understand the need to cut. Trust me, I do. However, it seems like there are far better ways to cut spending other than the healthcare and retirement benefits from our active duty military.

Why are we so quick to cut those benefits from retired and active duty? Can you possibly think of better ways to cut spending? For example, the pay to congress and president for life?

Good AMA man, you're answering a shit ton of questions.

You're going to get a lot of reddit street cred for this.

How are you today?

How are you today?