Comments on: An Alternate Approach to Building a Navy

By: Jusuchin (Military Otaku)

Jusuchin (Military Otaku) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:18:33 +0000

Note to self: When fussing over the military, do not discuss it with Liberals and Libertarians on campus. =__=

By: Murdoc

Murdoc — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:52:16 +0000

FWIW, I watched the original election of the WA governor closely on this site and was appalled to see her re-elected.

By: Bram

Bram — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:42:37 +0000

KTLA – Did even the live residents vote for her this time?

By: 11Bravo

11Bravo — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:21:41 +0000

Military spending will decrease because we are in debt and going deeper into debt every day.

Specter’s decision today gives me no confidence this will end anytime soon.

It is amazing that we have to rely upon the Chinese to buy our bonds so that we may continue to fund our military to counter the growing threat from China.

By: Murdoc

Murdoc — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:14:47 +0000

“To be fair, citizens of the US voted in November to decrease our military spending in this way.”

That is true in a sense, and I’ll admit that I hadn’t really considered that.

However, the US Navy has specifically gone down a road that leaves it with virtually no options other than to shrink and lose capability. It’s piled money into DD(X) while the rest of the fleet ages. It married the F-18 for all missions, which was bad enough. Then it decided to not buy enough of them, which is even worse.

So while next year’s budget crunch can be laid at the feet of the politicians and the voters who elected them, the overall problem has been a decade and more in the making across a wide range of presidents, congresses, economies, and foreign policy environments.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:09:35 +0000

Look forward to a future where the US Navy becomes increasingly smaller and less able to project outward, and the Chinese Navy grows.

Don’t be surprised in the year 2040 to hear of Chinese aircraft carriers patrolling just outside our territorial waters.

By: KTLA

KTLA — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:30:52 +0000

Meanwhile, the US Navy has prioritized retiring ships and subs early and opening up multi-year fighter shortages.

To be fair, citizens of the US voted in November to decrease our military spending in this way. You can’t really blame the politicians that are just following through after being elected.

I live in WA state and we have a governor that has mismanaged spending in our state to a level that I feel should probably be literally criminal. However, in November our state voted that we liked what she’d been doing, and please do it for four more years.

Blame the voters.