It Looks Like Congress Is Poised To Fire DOZENS Of Generals
5:38 PM 06/13/2016
A summary of the bill provided by the committee states the drawdown in general officers also applies at the 3, 2, and 1 star levels. The committee reasons that “Over the past 30 years, the end-strength of the joint force has decreased 38 percent, but the ratio of four-star officers to the overall force has increased by 65 percent.”
The NDAA reduces the number of four star positions in the military from 41 to 27. Bureaucratic bloat and over involvement by general officers has plagued the ongoing U.S. effort against the Islamic State. In late March the Daily Beast reported that as many as 21 general officers were involved in the war on ISIS. Furthermore, each of these generals is accompanied by a mandatory litany of aides and staff officers.
Twenty-one generals is an exceptionally high number for the only 5000 troops deployed to Iraq and approximately 250 U.S. special operations forces within Syria, especially considering they are not officially engaged in a combat mission.
Getting rid of a large number of generals is not a new idea. Then Defense secretary Chuck Hagel proposed cutting the number of Generals by 20% but was not in office long enough to achieve his goal. Secretary Robert Gates, who served under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, once proposed reducing the number of generals by 50 as a cost cutting measure.
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