Saturday, June 29, 2013

Military preparedness suffers yet Obama takes $100 million vacation

Coach is Right ^ | June 29th, 2013 | Jim Emerson, staff writer

This week, retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula penned a scorching op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, pointing out that military options being planned for Syria ignore the effect of sequestration on the U.S military at home. One suggestion was a limited no-fly zone over Syria with Air Force and Naval aircraft flying out of Jordon. One of the facts being ignored is that aircrews are not flying training missions to maintain their proficiency to fly, fight and win with air supremacy. Right now, the biggest unreported, no-fly zone is already up and running–it’s the one in the United States! US bases are being ordered to reduce flying time, training and maintenance, greatly compromising America’s air combat readiness.

Gen. Deptula, the former head of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance on the Air Staff, was one of the principle planners of Operation Desert Storm and a joint task force commander during Operation Northern Watch. He served as Director of the Combined Air Operations Center for Operation Enduring Freedom. He has flown more than 3000 combat hours.

The real danger of sequestration begins when politicians and the American public believe that budget cuts do not affect combat forces.“Sequestration was designed (by Obama) to be so irresponsible that Congress would be forced to prevent its implementation. Now that it has been implemented, the danger is that Washington will begin to think the military cuts are tolerable.” In order to fight and win a war troops must constantly train for war. Perpetually idle airmen are not ready to effectively engage the enemy.
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...

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