msalvetti
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Go4Long wrote:
I don't see why they should cancel the F-22 Demo teams schedule though, much like my thoughts on the Blues, it's all money that is being spent on flight hours regardless, it might as well be spent on flight hours that entertain a couple million people a year. The waiting game is driving me nuts...lol.
The problem is that to cut $50 billion from the defense budget by October, they are also talking about major reductions in force readiness, including flying hours. I came across a summary in the NY Times, haven't had time to verify it (which I would normally do):
The Navy plans to shut down four air wings on March 1. After 90 days, the pilots in those air wings lose their certifications, and it will take six to nine months, and much money, to retrain them. The Navy has also said the Nimitz and George H. W. Bush carrier strike groups will not be ready for deployment later this year because the service will run out of operations and maintenance money. This means the Truman and Eisenhower strike groups will remain deployed indefinitely, a decision affecting thousands of service members and their families.
The Army, which has done most of the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, says it will be forced to curtail training for 80 percent of its ground forces and that by the end of the year, two-thirds of its brigade combat teams will fall below acceptable levels of combat readiness. Air Force pilots expect to lose more than 200,000 flying hours. Beginning in March, roughly two-thirds of the Air Force’s active-duty combat units will curtail training at their home bases, and by July will no longer be capable of carrying out their missions. Some ship and aircraft maintenance will be canceled for the third and fourth quarters of the fiscal year, resulting in fewer available weapons.
The point of this editorial was that there had to be a compromise to avoid all this, but their view of the compromise was a combination of cuts and taxes. Personally I think that's reasonable, but what really annoys me is that neither side seems to be willing to discuss the really hard stuff that has to be on the table, like Medicare, Social Security, and the other entitlement programs.
Mark
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vs. budgetary sequestration... 
