Welcome to disarmament

       Recent discussion about whether or not a Russian submarine spent time in the Gulf of Mexico undetected is, and probably will be, a question without an answer to most of us.

            Yet even one open source intel report I get stated certainly the USA knew about it (if it was there), but offered the statement as one of faith, not facts. I think this retired intel person was born after WWII, and his faith is probably based on his experience, which in the past is a fair assessment, in my opinion.

            Yet we, the USA people and federal government, have been downsizing the military since the end of the cold war in the 1990's. Besides the logic of downsizing, there is also the natural tendency in the USA to do so anyway.  Now when downsizing, one can either get it just right, cut too much, or cut too little. It's hard to get it just right, so more probably we will cut too much, or too little.

            Whatever, we now have less military capability than two decades ago. And it has been on purpose.  Now most probably think by squeezing DOD, we can do more with less, and that is a valid point.  That idea includes the many who depend on DOD (Department of Defense) to make a living for their family. But at the same time, and again, we have less capability than we had two decades ago, and will have even a smaller military, both in size and capability, in the next few decades the way things are going.

            The recent sequestration law and process seem to be accelerating this disarmament process.

            So, and it is happening right now, and it will only get more limited; if we say "jump", we may not have any "jumpers", or enough "jumpers".

            The obvious results are many. Perhaps regional despots around be world will be more emboldened.  Perhaps regional expansionism will begin or accelerate without checks. Perhaps future USA leaders will be more limited in what they can do, and know. Perhaps many many will die because of wars that might not have happened in other circumstances. Perhaps we can't recruit enough "volunteers" if they are constantly deployed away from their families. After all, we may recruit a person, but most often we retain his or her family.

            Is that what we voters want?  Right now that is what our Executive and Legislative Branches are doing, right out in the open, by the way.