White House eyes annual 8% cut to defense budget through 2030

[slightlv]

15. Having worked as a government contractor, in one job or another,

I can say I disagree with several of their objectives, but I can't bad mouth them. They paid their employees more than could be had on a GS scale. When the Army shifted my job from civilian to GS, I lost about 2/3 of my monthly salary. That was a huge cut to take at a time (during the mortgage crisis) when we could least absorb it. My husband's contract had ended, and at 61, he wasn't finding another job very easily.

I do agree that the defense budget should be cut, but I don't think I'm going to like WHERE they're going to make the cuts. Everyone thinks of the defense budget as this huge, amorphous beast. But what gets cut first is what impacts our soldiers in their off duty time... family, recreation opportunities, resilience training, and so much more. The family will probably end up paying more for on-base housing and costs will likely increase at the commissary. Remember, unless you're a well placed officer, soldiers really do not make a hell of a lot of money. And they sacrifice a lot for that amount of salary. But they always take the first hit.

Most bases I'm familiar with (posts), have had to absorb the cost of maintenance and building of onsite housing. A lot of what was done at first by the service was shifted to contractors. Then some of that shifted back to the service. Unfortunately by then, the private sector had raised prices high enough that other things got eaten in order to fund it. Things like printers, computers, software, and education. You have no idea how hard it was to get printer ink for one of our printers in the office! And I wasn't the only one complaining.

I'm a veteran, so I guess in a way I've got a dog in this fight, although I'm old enough now no one will hire me. But I'm proud of the people I worked with, both civilian and active duty, and I hate to see the hits that they're going to take on the chin in support of trumps "cost efficacy efforts."