Reducing The Military With the end of the “Cold War” Americas armed forces are too large and expensive to maintain while in an era of peace. The roles of the military has changed, and the United States has come to the conclusion that military might no longer means having the larger force. Politicians have initiated the closure of bases, the reduced production by defense contractors, the decrease in military and civilian personnel. The actions taken to reduce the military has left dwindling numbers, and this must be changed to ensure that the U.S. military continues to be a mighty super power. The idea of a smaller military was not even considered during the “Cold War”, but today the treat to America is at a all-time low.
This has sparked politicians to restructure the forces and reduce the spending needed to maintain those forces. These reductions are based on the budget spending what is not cost effective to the U.S. and the public. The cost cutting needs to be done, without too large of an effect on the employed personnel, whether military or civilian (ORourke, 2). Though the reductions in the forces still needs to be made, careful monitoring of the amounts of The reductions in personnel have gone past the recommended limit set Congress, and have created a greater need for personnel.
If a conflict were to happen to day, the U.S. could only send four heavy divisions, compared to the seven sent during the Gulf War. This greatly decreases Americas ability to thwart an attack from several different countries at one time. This idea of sustaining several conflicts at one time has been a major Because the U.S. is the last great superpower, it is a very large target, and when involvement is needed to aid others the forces are diminished the ability to be an effective deterrent. Analysts have seen an increased demand for the continued policing actions that the U.S.
plays a major part in. Congress has also cut spending on defense technology, which has caused defense contractors to make cutbacks in employees. 1.3 million jobs have been cut since the employment peak of 1987. This has caused increased inflation, and has hurt the economy of United States. Reconstruction of the spending on the technology needs to equally dispersed through the market to even out jobs for all defense companies.