[Beetle01]

btw Clinton slashed military spending by 30% when he was in office. Obama will probably do more.

[DevilsWin]

No I haven't, I plan on enlisting in the reserves once I'm finished with school. I considered joining earlier, but decided I would be better off to finish school first.

Once Again your taking things out of context to spin them for your agenda. McCain has no problem with veterans getting enough money for a 4 year degree. I believe it was the Webb bill?? Which he didn't vote against, he just didn't vote on. The bill allowed soldiers who had served 3 years to get enough money for a 4-year degree. McCain and company wanted it to be longer. The dispute was not over the money, it was over the length of enlistment. Which most of the argument was pointless, no matter how long you sign, whether it be 4 or 6 years, or w/e. They got you for 10 years no matter what if they want you.

So why do most troops support Republicans, if they abuse them so much?

Would you mind backing that statement up with some verifiable facts?

[DevilsWin]

btw Clinton slashed military spending by 30% when he was in office. Obama will probably do more.

The notion that President Bill Clinton was a poor steward of the armed forces has become so commonly accepted that it is now often taken for granted -- among moderates and independents as well as Republicans such as George W. Bush, who made the charge in the first place. The Clinton administration, so the thinking goes, presided over an excessive downsizing of the U.S. military, seriously weakening the magnificent fighting machine built by Ronald Reagan and honed by George H.W. Bush. It frittered away American power and left the country an object of derision to its enemies, tempting them to misbehave.
This assessment, however, is wrong. The Clinton administration's use of force (or lack thereof) may be controversial, but the Clinton Pentagon oversaw the most successful defense drawdown in U.S. history -- cutting military personnel by 15 percent more than the previous administration had planned while retaining a high state of readiness and a strong global deterrence posture. It enacted a prescient modernization program. And the military it helped produce achieved impressive successes in Bosnia and Kosovo and, more significant, in Afghanistan and Iraq. Although these victories were primarily due to the remarkable dedication and skill of U.S. troops, credit is also owed to Clinton's defense policy.
The Clinton defense team did not, however, do a good job of managing military morale, taking too long to figure out how to distribute a demanding workload fairly and sustainably across a smaller force. As a consequence, U.S. troops became overworked and demoralized, and many left the military or considered doing so. Although many of these problems were largely repaired by the end of the decade, they undoubtedly detract from Clinton's military achievements. But they do not justify the overwhelmingly negative assessment of his defense record.

EQUIPPED FOR A NEW ENEMY
Advocates of military transformation, the current rage in defense policy circles, do not think that the Clinton administration went far enough in modernizing and reshaping the military. But this assessment is unfair. Although Clinton spent only half of what Reagan did on procurement, this was partly because much of the military's antiquated weaponry had already been replaced during the Reagan buildup. Moreover, the Clinton Pentagon made good use of the scarce funds it had, purchasing key battlefield technologies and improving behind-the-scenes preparedness.
The technological superstars of the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns included not only F-16 fighter jets, Abrams tanks, and Bradley fighting vehicles -- built largely under Reagan -- but unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS), missile defense systems, satellite-guided weapons, and improved rapid-targeting and radar technology, developed chiefly during the Clinton years. The Predator UAV, for example, which was used to monitor key targets in Afghanistan and to attack fleeing terrorists, began as an experimental program in 1994. Global Hawk, a larger and higher-altitude UAV, was developed around the same time.
The Clinton years also saw the development of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile defense system, a huge improvement over the primitive Patriot system that performed so poorly ...

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20031101fa...egacy.html

[DevilsWin]

btw Clinton slashed military spending by 30% when he was in office. Obama will probably do more.

The Obama Defense Plan will:

1-Invest in a 21st Century military
2- Build Defense capabilities for the 21st Century
3- Restore the readiness of the National Guard and Reserves
4- Build up the capacity of each non-Pentagon agency to deploy personnel and area experts where they are needed, to help move soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines out of civilian roles. Create a national CAC of 25,000 personnel. This corps of civilian volunteers with special skill, sets (doctors, lawyers, engineers, city planners, agriculture specialists, police, etc.) would be organized to provide each federal agency with a pool of volunteer experts willing to deploy in times of need at home and abroad.
5- Restore our Alliances
6- Reform Contracting by requiring the Pentagon and State Department to develop a strategy for determining when contracting makes sense, rather than continually handing off governmental jobs to well-connected companies. An Obama administration will create the transparency and accountability needed for good governance. Finally, it will establish the legal status of contractor personnel, making possible prosecution of any abuses committed by private military contractors. Reduce the corruption and cost overruns that have become all too routine in defense contracting. This includes launching a program of acquisition reform and management, which would end the common practice of no-bid contracting. He will end the abuse of supplemental budgets by creating a system of oversight for war funds as stringent as in the regular budget. He will restore the government's ability to manage contracts by rebuilding our contract officer corps. He will order the Justice Department to prioritize prosecutions that will punish and deter fraud, waste and abuse.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/defens...y-military

[Beetle01]

The Obama Defense Plan will:

1-Invest in a 21st Century military
2- Build Defense capabilities for the 21st Century
3- Restore the readiness of the National Guard and Reserves
4- Build up the capacity of each non-Pentagon agency to deploy personnel and area experts where they are needed, to help move soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines out of civilian roles. Create a national CAC of 25,000 personnel. This corps of civilian volunteers with special skill, sets (doctors, lawyers, engineers, city planners, agriculture specialists, police, etc.) would be organized to provide each federal agency with a pool of volunteer experts willing to deploy in times of need at home and abroad.
5- Restore our Alliances
6- Reform Contracting by requiring the Pentagon and State Department to develop a strategy for determining when contracting makes sense, rather than continually handing off governmental jobs to well-connected companies. An Obama administration will create the transparency and accountability needed for good governance. Finally, it will establish the legal status of contractor personnel, making possible prosecution of any abuses committed by private military contractors. Reduce the corruption and cost overruns that have become all too routine in defense contracting. This includes launching a program of acquisition reform and management, which would end the common practice of no-bid contracting. He will end the abuse of supplemental budgets by creating a system of oversight for war funds as stringent as in the regular budget. He will restore the government's ability to manage contracts by rebuilding our contract officer corps. He will order the Justice Department to prioritize prosecutions that will punish and deter fraud, waste and abuse.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/defens...y-military

1. Lol, like we are not already https://www.fcs.army.mil/
2. Same as number 1. However, gonna be tougher to do with cuts in military spending.
3.What does that even mean? When were they not ready?
4. Not gonna work, plus 25k is too small a number
5. Alliances with who?
6. Decent idea, not sure if it will work, but its a thought

I'm just glad he's narrowed down the problems with our military into 6 easy steps.

how about 7. Increase pay for soldiers?

[DevilsWin]

1. Lol, like we are not already https://www.fcs.army.mil/
2. Same as number 1. However, gonna be tougher to do with cuts in military spending.
3.What does that even mean? When were they not ready?
4. Not gonna work, plus 25k is too small a number
5. Alliances with who?
6. Decent idea, not sure if it will work, but its a thought

I'm just glad he's narrowed down the problems with our military into 6 easy steps.

how about 7. Increase pay for soldiers?

1- We're barely hanging on...
2- He will increase the size of the Army by 65,000 soldiers and the Marines by 27,000 troops.
3- Our equipment is antiquated already.
4- 25,000 may not be enough but at least Obama has a plan.
5- NATO perhaps!
6- Again, at least Obama has a plan.

All of this is explained in detail on the link I posted if you bothered to read it, which you probably didn't because the truth just isn't fashionable these days amongst the conservative radicals.

[thecavemaster]

LOL I think he is an American. The Arab reference was a jab at your way of thought. You've been calling me a racist ever since I said I was not going to vote for Obama. I could care less where his family heritage comes from if he is going to make our lives a little better as POTUS. I'm not voting for him because he will gut our military spending. Those guys just got their first raise in 15 years. Now they will lose it right away. His socialized medicine will ruin this country's healthcare.

Cavemaster: Arab is not a religion. It is obvious your not concerned with facts. You have your own opinions and feel everyone should feel as you do, whether it makes any sense or not.
I believe Jesus Christ should be a part of our schools. So did just about every founding father. I believe it is a good idea to teach kids where our country's moral beliefs come from. Why we have the principles we do. Noone is forcing them to worship anyone. They can make their own decisions. They can choose not to pray or say "under god".

Of course, I didn't say "Arab" was a religion, though a massive amount of the Arab world is Muslim. I simply spit back what it was you were suggesting. To say "under god" is a form of worship, though I have no real problem with students saying it, since they say it from habit and don't think a thing about what they are saying, like a man who gets so used to living next to a train station that he doesn't even hear the train any more. If you're part of the working poor, this country's healthcare system is pretty much non-existent now.

[DevilsWin]

No I haven't, I plan on enlisting in the reserves once I'm finished with school. I considered joining earlier, but decided I would be better off to finish school first.

Once Again your taking things out of context to spin them for your agenda. McCain has no problem with veterans getting enough money for a 4 year degree. I believe it was the Webb bill?? Which he didn't vote against, he just didn't vote on. The bill allowed soldiers who had served 3 years to get enough money for a 4-year degree. McCain and company wanted it to be longer. The dispute was not over the money, it was over the length of enlistment. Which most of the argument was pointless, no matter how long you sign, whether it be 4 or 6 years, or w/e. They got you for 10 years no matter what if they want you.

So why do most troops support Republicans, if they abuse them so much?

To the Contrary:

According to an analysis of campaign contributions by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain, and the fiercely anti-war Ron Paul, though he suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination months ago, has received more than four times McCain's haul.

[Beetle01]

Obama has outraised Mccain overall by a ton, but the polls are still very close.
Donations don't equal votes come November.

Ill be willing to bet Mccain gets 70+% of the military vote.

[DevilsWin]

Obama has outraised Mccain overall by a ton, but the polls are still very close.
Donations don't equal votes come November.

Ill be willing to bet Mccain gets 70+% of the military vote.

A friendly wager?

[thecavemaster]

Some of the latest polls suggest that McCain has pulled into a slight lead over McCain. In some polls, 20% of Hillary supporters say they may not vote for Obama, will vote for McCain, or probably will not vote at all. If Obama (and his advisors) don't swallow some pride and leftover hostility and pick HIllary as VP, this will be one of the biggest "we blew it" Presedential elections in memory.