Military Must Educate Public on Budget Cuts

With President Obama and his new and highly political defense secretary, Leon Panetta, preparing to gut the defense budget, how should military officials, both in and out of uniform, respond?

Not in the way that Marine Corps Brigadier General Lori Reynolds responded yesterday on Fox & Friends.

Reynolds is a Naval Academy grad and the first female commander of Parris Island, the legendary recruit depot where American men and women are made into Marines. Congrats to Reynolds for a well earned honor. I endured Parris Island in 2002, after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. That was a rite of passage I’ll never forget.

Reynolds’ purview isn’t the budget, of course. She’s tasked with overseeing the recruitment and training of Marines. So it would be easy -- and politically convenient -- for her to dodge questions about the budget.

Easy, but wrong. The truth is that everyone wearing the uniform -- especially our nation’s top officers -- has an obligation to inform and educate policymakers and the public about precisely what gutting the defense budget will mean for the U.S. military and the men and women who serve.

America, after all, is a democracy. We constantly deliberate and debate public policy. But to make wise decisions and to effect sound public policy, we need good and accurate information.

That’s where our men and women in uniform can and should play a vital role: by alerting policymakers and the public to the difficult trade-offs that will have to be made should Obama and Panetta succeed in gutting the defense budget.

Here’s what Brig. Gen. Reynolds said on Fox & Friends when asked about defense budget cuts:

Well, you know we’re gonna make wise decisions in the Marine Corps. We’re always gonna take care of what our nation needs us to do. And uh, uhm, [pause], you know, we’ll work through that. And uh, uh, we’re gonna -- we’re gonna end up just as strong as we’ve always been in the United States Marine Corps.

In other words: don’t worry, be happy. The Marine Corps will do right no matter what. No matter how hard we’re squeezed, “we’re always gonna take care of what our nation needs us to do.”

Now, I don’t mean to be too hard on Brig. Gen. Reynolds. She clearly was caught off guard by a serious and substantive policy question in what was otherwise a fluffy, feel-good interview. But she and other military leaders are going to be asked this same question many times in the months and years ahead, and it is important that they not punt or fumble when the media calls them.

Of course, no military official should ever take sides in partisan political disputes. The U.S. military is and ought to be independent of partisan politics. But informing the public dialogue and educating the public with accurate information and sound military judgment is not playing partisan politics-- it is fulfilling the oath of office as a commissioned officer or member of the U.S. military.

Here is what I think Brig. Gen. Reynolds should have said:

Brian [Kilmeade], thanks for that question. As you know, the Marine Corps has been at war and constantly deploying ever since September 11, 2001. And much of our equipment is old, technologically antiquated, and worn out from constant use in battle.

We’re already quite lean. The Marine Corps’s share of the Department of Defense budget is about 6.5 percent overall -- $34.5 billion. Yet our share of the nation’s combat forces is two to three times that minimal investment.

We Marines provide, for instance, 17 percent of the nation’s active-duty ground combat maneuver units, 12 percent of the fixed-wing tactical aircraft, and 19 percent of the attack helicopters

And we’re forward deployed always to deter America’s enemies, reassure our friends and allies, and maintain peace and stability in a dangerous and troubled world.

We will of course salute our civilian overseers and respect their decisions. But honestly, my best judgment as a commissioned officer is that unless you radically scale back our roles and missions, additional budget cuts will have a very deleterious effect on the Marine Corps and on our Marines.

There will be things that we simply won’t be able to do and missions that we simply won’t be able to complete. And the risk of casualties and fatalities will increase significantly.

Now, we in the military don’t make policy-- the policymakers do that. But we do have to provide policymakers and the public with objective information upon which they can base their decisions.

What the American people and their elected representatives need to know is that their Marines are already doing a lot with very little, and that further cuts could potentially press us to the breaking point.

What are the chances that Brig. Gen. Reynolds -- or any other U.S. military official, for that matter -- would ever answer such a question in this way? Practically nil. U.S. military officials, I regret to say, have been intimidated and cowed into silence on matters about which they ought to be vocal and public.

But unless they speak out, quickly and forcefully, we are about to witness the biggest gutting of the defense budget in American history. Our enemies will be rejoicing, but all Americans should be worrying. Time, then, for U.S. military leaders to exhibit real leadership and conscience. Now.

John Guardiano blogs at www.ResoluteCon.Com, and you can follow him on Twitter: @JohnRGuardiano.