Pentagon's new strategy beefs up Army, Marines
honoluluadvertiser.com
By John Yaukey
January 27, 2010
Draft of 4-year plan suggests major impact on Isle bases
Boots on the ground will trump jets in the air or boats in the
water in the Pentagon’s forward-looking, four-year plan due out Monday
alongside the 2011 defense budget.
The Quadrennial Defense Review will recommend beefing up the Army and Marine
Corps, now stretched thin in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a draft
version of the document.
Many of the cuts in expensive weapons have already started.
For Hawai’i and Guam — home to some of the most expensive conventional weapons the nation deploys, as well as to legions of foot soldiers — the report will have manifold consequences, although it’s not yet clear what they are.
The various military branches are expected to outline how they’ll be affected by the QDR and the proposed 2011 defense budget Monday.
The defense budget has been growing by an annual average of 4 percent, which would mean a $563 billion package for 2011, depending on whether it includes special funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
If included, the war funding could boost the overall request to $700 billion or more.
The Obama administration has said it wants to include war funding in the annual budget, rather than adding it in as needed, the way the Bush administration did.
“The defense budget is now more people-oriented,” said Loren Thompson, a top defense analyst with the Virginia-based Lexington Institute. “You’re going to see more emphasis on fighting unconventional warfare and less on weapons like aircraft carriers and bombers — more on people and less on equipment.”
www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100127/NEWS01/1270348/Pentagon+s
