If you had a choice between cutting benefits for the military or Congress, which would you choose?

nytimes.com/2011/09/19/us/retiree-benefi... Asked by rhine44 3 months ago Similar questions: choice cutting benefits military Congress choose Society > story.

Similar questions: choice cutting benefits military Congress choose.

The entire budget for Congress on the order of $100 million. You could zero out their salaries and provide each military retiree with a nickel. People keep bringing that false choice up: "Oh, we could cut Congress."

No, we can't; there isn't enough money in that pot to service even one of the things that are threatened, much less hundreds of them. Get used to making hard choices, not cheap shots.

I beg to differ. Soldiers make hard choices everyday, unlike members of Congress where most of them have never fired a shot in combat in their entire life. Perhaps if they had been in combat they would not be so quick to suck this country into one war after another.

Just my opinion, of course. Rhine44 3 months ago .

Whether or not we should be in a war is an entirely different question. And I don't particularly care that many of them have never been in a war; the whole point is that the military is at the behest of a civilian government. The present Congress, Democrats and Republicans, are playing out a war that was declared ten years ago.

Iraq is nearly over. Afghanistan still needs to be decided, and I concur that at this point we need to declare victory and move on. I'm pretty sure the President is agreed on that, though whether it's this year or two years from now is hard to answer.

But I'm really not interested in re-fighting whether we should have started those wars in the first place. That ship sailed a loooooong time ago.

Sorry if I came on a little too strong earlier. But old memories die hard. In retrospect, the point you made is a valid one and of which I concur completely.It's just that for some of us old vets it's difficult at times to see the whole landscape of things while mentally we're still stuck in a fox hole.

Rhine44 3 months ago .

War is a horrible thing, and that's a lesson we repeatedly fail to learn. The vast majority of our soldiers come back intact, at least physically, but mentally there is damage that will last the rest of their lives. The veneration of veterans in some ways just makes it worse.

We put them up as heroes, which they are, but that veneration isn't payment for how much it cost them. We owe them everything we've promised, and it's too late to repudiate that. It was a cost we didn't figure into the wars, and it will cost us as much again as we've already spent.At a time when money is tight, it just makes the fraud that led us into Iraq that much more horrific.

I stand by the belief that the Afghan war was, at least at the time we began it, worth fighting. I even believe that it was worth continuing; we've trounced al Qaeda. We'll never eliminate it, but we've sent a very strong message that we're not weak and we are willing to use our military when attacked.

Unfortunately, we've also sent the message to ourselves that we're willing to use our military to jump at shadows. That's a message to our soldiers that we don't care about their lives, and no amount of flag-waving is going to change that.

The minimum retirement age for the military needs to be raised to 30, at a minimum, or maybe even 40, to put it more in line with real world businesses. So, to answer your question, I'd cut the DoD over congress. But, I'd also get rid of the retirement and benefits package they have there too - they shouldn't be able to get a retirement pension after serving a single term.

That's kind of a flawed question. Cutting benefits for congress might save $5 million/year, or maybe $200 million over the next 30 years. We're talking 535 active legislators plus a bunch of retired old codgers.

That's a driplet in the bucket against benefits for a a military of 20 million men and women active, and 100 million retired military. Basically, apples to oranges.

In hindsight, it is rather a flawed question. And yes, it only amounts to a driplet in the bucket. But at least the military earned it, while members of Congress do not.

Rhine44 3 months ago .

The Congress should all take a 50% cut in pay.

Yeah, a little of the pain that the general public are feeling might promote a little empathy, if that's at all possible. Rhine44 3 months ago .

The military. It's a huge piece of the pie, and we have way too many troops on the ground. Increasingly our wars are being fought with special forces, covert operations, and CIA.

We can maintain a strong defense with a much smaller military. We also contract out a heckuva lot of the work, and can save on benefits that way. Strong defense, fewer boots on the ground, privatize.

This country needs to maintain a moderately sized army. We cut the military to the bone after WW2, and along came the Korean conflict five years later that caught us with our pants down. However, I do agree with cutting and possibly doing away altogether with special contracts.

I've never seen one that didn't turn into a black hole for billions of wasted dollars. Rhine44 3 months ago .

Just a real quick remark - from a person who saw combat - and saw sitting behind a desk - doing other -just as important things. If there's one thing that makes the hairs on my neck stand up - and I'll try to say this in a respectful manner - It's when someone -sort of- minimizes those in the military, who never saw combat. Yes, combat is something that is horrible, and stays with you - in various ways , etc.Etc.

Etc. And all of you/us -who wish to be- should be acknowledged (I'd rather remain silent). HOWEVER, I've always believed that those "back home" in some role, played just as important a role as those of us in a combat zone played ---- they / we / us - just had "the luck of the draw" to be where we were.

During war time -- The Planners and Leaders "back home" may be doing as much "unsung" heroics as those "in country" or "in the field". Doctors, Nurses, Pilots, (and I'm sure there are hundreds of others) who volunteer their service, don't have to be in combat to be a hero..(No disrespect - Just a little pet peeve of mine).

None taken. As one who served in Vietnam I too am sensitive -- and probably judging from my response to PamPerdue -- it makes the hairs on my neck stand up as well. And by the way, thank YOU for your service.

Rhine44 3 months ago .

No disrespect taken or intended ----- Thank you..

Put "Congress" on social security and medicare and support our milkitary. Or, if we want to immediately suffer defeat, next time send Congress in place of the professionals.

" "Shadow the politician of your choice for one day. Choose! " "If you had to make a choice, would you choose to have cable TV or internet service?

" "If you couldbe sculpted by any artist in history, who would you choose?" "What are the benefits of cutting out red meat from your diet? " "If you could choose, is there a voice from the past, in history, that you'd really like to hear if it was possible? " "Given the choice of great riches and no fame or great fame and no riches, which would you choose?" "Now that Obama doesn't have a large majority in Congress will he try to work with Republicans?

Does he have a choice? " (12 answers) "if you could live in another period of history you would choose what?" "If you had the choice, would you choose to be a man or a woman?

Shadow the politician of your choice for one day. Choose!

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.