Military cuts would do more harm than good

In 2014, a time one would think our country would attempt to keep more men in uniform, major cutbacks are being discussed.

According to an article on defense.gov, during the latest press conference at the Pentagon, President Barack Obama and the secretary of defense have both expressed plans to shrink the armed forces to the smallest size since World War II.

This decision could severely hinder the future of military families. This scares me. Our economy is unstable. According to CNN Money, families could have to spend up to $3,000 more on groceries at the commissary if this bill goes through.

Being a child of an army veteran and hearing about this concerns me, considering how my world may change. Not only would my health care costs go up, according to the Washington Post, but if you join the armed forces after the changes are made, it would take longer to get raises.

By 2017, the bill would cause a few military bases to be closed. These bases are a place of security for some military families. So if you are a wife who left your career and family to follow your husband’s dream of serving this country, everything could possibly change.

As students, I think we need to become more aware of the issues going on in the bigger picture. If this is what’s being suggested today, considering it looks like our economy isn’t getting better any time soon, imagine when we get our parents and our grandparent’s ages. Will we even have a military to deploy to other countries? Or will we just sit back and have drones handle all of our enemies?

On the outside, the bill looks appealing because for the first time in 13 years the Department of Defense isn’t being influenced by money to start a war, thus saving American tax dollars. But, instead, it’s asking for a cutback on resources. It sounds like a good plan, but the repercussions could negatively impact citizens.

An article from the Highlands Today discussed how ROTC recruiters are seeing the testing requirements to enter the military become more difficult. In light of the cutbacks on resources and high testing requirements for ROTC, I’m interested to see how many people are recruited in the coming years.

I can’t help but wonder, will these cutbacks increase or decrease college enrollment for ROTC since it seems they won’t be touching ROTC funds? Or will fast food restaurants experience inflation of employment?