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No need for defense pay cuts

With the sequestration date here, the pundits are making dire predictions for the Department of Defense rollback — perhaps a temporary 20 percent pay cut for DOD employees The enforced cutback should instead be looked at with delight by our senators and representatives — a chance to institute cuts they told their constituents they wanted to make, but, collectively, were afraid to take on.

Forget the pay cuts. Instead,

1. Reduce our 800 or so foreign bases to 30 or 40.

2. Retire 80 percent of our generals and admirals to bring their number to one proportionate to that of 1945 when we had 10.5 million men under arms and the same number of chiefs as at present.

3. Mothball a large portion of our fleet.

4. Accelerate our withdrawal from Afghanistan, which currently costs us 2 billion dollars a week. Thereby we would also reduce our casualties and ameliorate the animosity that so many Afghanis bear toward their occupiers.

Jim Griffith

Wilmette

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