Letter I have sent to the President, the Vice President, Senator Bennet, Senator Udall and Congressman Lamborn
RE: Sequestration and National Defense
The time has come to govern, and to end the partisan posturing. As a retired United States Army Reserve Brigadier General, I fully understand the pressures of leadership and hard decisions. As I write this, I find myself disgusted with the inability of a divided government to execute its most basic core function: the national defense.
Inaction by the President, Senate Democrats and House Republicans will cause devastating and possible permanent degradation to the ability of the Department of Defense to execute missions assigned by the Commander in Chief. Let there be no doubt in your minds. All of you are on the "blame line." All of you are responsible for enacting this foolish and automatic legislation. All of you will be blamed by the American people for your failure to act.
There is no doubt in any senior leader's mind that the DOD budget must be reduced as we wind down our involvement in this war in two theaters. However, the right way to do this is NOT through automatic budget cuts, political gamesmanship and grandstanding. As a voter, I am ashamed of all of you, and ashamed to see our nation wrenched through this debacle.
Further, I have "skin in the game." I am a disabled Vet, I have deployed, and my oldest TWO SONS are serving in the Army in Afghanistan as I write this letter. There is no doubt in my mind that my sons' lives will be endangered by your failure to act and act NOW! Lastly, I am also a government civil servant probably facing a 20% furlough pay cut for the remainder of this year, causing my family undue hardship in addition to the stress and uncertainty caused by our sons' service in the combat zone.
I urge you to take immediate action to prevent the March 2013 sequester that, in days, will force a cumulative 18% defense budget cut in one year, plus nearly a half-trillion dollars in additional defense cuts over the next nine years. I urge you to amend this foolish legislation and give the Secretary of Defense and Service Secretaries the leeway to manage their Service budgets in a reasonable manner.
Our nation is still at war. Our nation's unemployment level is near the highest in recent memory. I urge you to do everything in your power to forge an immediate, bipartisan resolution to avoid this unconscionable prospect.
Respectfully,
Ray Woolridge
Brigader General, US Army Reserve, Retired
Inaction by the President, Senate Democrats and House Republicans will cause devastating and possible permanent degradation to the ability of the Department of Defense to execute missions assigned by the Commander in Chief. Let there be no doubt in your minds. All of you are on the "blame line." All of you are responsible for enacting this foolish and automatic legislation. All of you will be blamed by the American people for your failure to act.
There is no doubt in any senior leader's mind that the DOD budget must be reduced as we wind down our involvement in this war in two theaters. However, the right way to do this is NOT through automatic budget cuts, political gamesmanship and grandstanding. As a voter, I am ashamed of all of you, and ashamed to see our nation wrenched through this debacle.
Further, I have "skin in the game." I am a disabled Vet, I have deployed, and my oldest TWO SONS are serving in the Army in Afghanistan as I write this letter. There is no doubt in my mind that my sons' lives will be endangered by your failure to act and act NOW! Lastly, I am also a government civil servant probably facing a 20% furlough pay cut for the remainder of this year, causing my family undue hardship in addition to the stress and uncertainty caused by our sons' service in the combat zone.
I urge you to take immediate action to prevent the March 2013 sequester that, in days, will force a cumulative 18% defense budget cut in one year, plus nearly a half-trillion dollars in additional defense cuts over the next nine years. I urge you to amend this foolish legislation and give the Secretary of Defense and Service Secretaries the leeway to manage their Service budgets in a reasonable manner.
Our nation is still at war. Our nation's unemployment level is near the highest in recent memory. I urge you to do everything in your power to forge an immediate, bipartisan resolution to avoid this unconscionable prospect.
Respectfully,
Ray Woolridge
Brigader General, US Army Reserve, Retired
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