On July 9, the Army announced the details of a long-planned drawdown of some 40,000 U.S. troops. Among the press, this set off a flutter in the dove-cote (Or is it the war-cote, or the press-cote?). You’d have thought the nation was suddenly stripped bare of its soldiers.
Breaking Defense called it a release of “painful details” for military bases across the country. The normally staid PBS NewsHour gave Sen. John McCain free publicity to warn of “depleted readiness,” “chronic modernization problems,” and “deteriorating morale.” Speaking before Congress that day, the soon-to-be chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Joseph Dunford, warned of “catastrophic consequences” if budget cuts and drawdowns continue. Meanwhile, Nancy Youssef of the Daily Beast said that the threats posed by Russia, North Korea, China, and the Islamic State could make the drawdown a dicey proposition, one that the military feared would leave it “on pins and needles” in the face of the “constant threat of budgetary cuts.”
To read the full article click here.