Pentagon looks to cut 40,000 to 50,000 civilians over five years

[OhioChick]

Source: Reuters

Wed Apr 10, 2013 2:22pm EDT

(Reuters) - The Pentagon is looking to reduce the size of its nearly 800,000 civilian workforce by 40,000 to 50,000 employees over the next five years, mainly through attrition as it closes bases and consolidates healthcare facilities, the department's comptroller said on Wednesday.

"I would hope that given the time to prepare, we could do this through attrition, but we aren't far enough along to really know for sure as to how we do it," said Undersecretary of Defense Robert Hale, the Pentagon's comptroller.

Hale said the employee reductions were tied to Pentagon plans to close excess bases and consolidate healthcare facilities, which were proposed on Wednesday and would have to be accepted by Congress before going into effect.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/10/us-usa-fiscal-defense-jobs-idUSBRE93910920130410

[AAO]

1. The title should use "civilian jobs" instead of "civilians".

[Duer 157099]

21. Hmmm, no, I think they are being honest

They probably "intend" to cut civilians, but will do so by cutting their jobs.

In the end, same result. People bleeding.

[avaistheone1]

2. They have over 800,000 employees

which is ridiculous. If the Pentagon goes for the full 50,000 employees that is a 6.25% cut. Not so bad.

What the hell do 800,000 people do at the Pentagon any way? They must be crawling over each other and bumping into one another all day! What the hell have these 800,000 people accomplished?

[southernyankeebelle]

3. Have you ever been in the Pentagon? There is a lot of things going on you or I don't even

know is going on. It's one hell of a busy place. I use to go over with my husband when he had business in the building. I don't see anyone being lazy that is for sure.

[NutmegYankee]

4. 800,000 DOD wide, not just the Pentagon.

They overhaul and repair ships at Naval shipyards.

They overhaul planes and jets at Air force bases.

They repair weapons and tanks damaged from service.

They provide medical care to soldiers and their families.

They clean up superfund sites.

They work in Laboratories, doing basic scientific research, much of which advances our non-military culture.

They work in intelligence, serving as analysts to sift the massive amounts of data every day.

Hell, some are even teachers on military bases.

etc. etc.

[earthside]

7. In other words ...

... one gigantic make-work, jobs program, corporate welfare bureaucracy.

Because actually defending the United States of America would only take a military budget one third the size of what we are now spending.

Imagine putting all those folks to work doing something truly productive for the nation's GDP like building infrastructure, constructing high speed rail, building the 21st century power grid, manufacturing shoes, clothing, appliances, etc.

Of course, it's "the military" and "soldiers die for you" ... so it is the ultimate sacred cow and cannot be genuinely reformed or come under the budget axe.

[NutmegYankee]

8. How are Civil Servants "corporate welfare bureaucracy" ?

They work for the People of the United States. They even take an Oath:
I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

5 U.S.C. §3331


Your contempt of them is noted.

[earthside]

10. So ... what does an oath have to do with anything?

Make work is make work.

And an oath doesn't put 'civil servants' on some kind of higher level of citizenship or make them immune from being part of the American war machine and the corporate war machine gravy train.

I'm sure as individuals these civil servants are fine folks, but they make their money off the taxpayer's labor doing unnecessary government and government-contracted make work.

For instance, billions and billions of dollars spent on Reagan's 'star wars' fantasy ... for what -- zip.
But you can be sure the military contractors are doing just fine.
And we're all supposed to be just shrug our shoulder's and be happy that the SDI 'civil servants' are wasting our money?

[NutmegYankee]

11. Once again, your contempt is noted.

You should go over to an opposing website and post this. They complain that Civil Servants are wasting money too.

I didn't expect to read this shit on a Liberal website.

[earthside]

12. Liberals are NOT for wasting money.

Where does this notion come from that all money government spends has to be defended by liberals, Democrats?

I don't see that very often here on DU.

On most liberal and/or progressive web sites you will find a strong desire to see big cuts in the military-industrial-complex.

Well, guess what that means? It means a lot of Pentagon 'civil servants' will be dismissed from planning the next war; or for issuing the next contract for unnecessary weapons systems; or designing the fifth rebuild of barracks in Germany; and on and on.

Believe me, I know upper level DOD employees (civil servants) who funnel millions and millions of dollars to all kinds of 'private' contractors whose management is getting rich on our dime doing really worthless 'work'.

Yup -- I'd like to see those 'civil servants' gone.

[NutmegYankee]

13. One person's waste is another's vital service.

[Kennah]

15. Vital to the MIC

[xtraxritical]

14. Keep speaking the truth to power earthside!

[Arctic Dave]

5. Less then 10%.

GMAFB.

It's a good start but let's get real, it's time to pull the feeding tube on the bloated pig of a budget for the MIC.

[maxsolomon]

6. This is what happens when Defense is your only stimulus program

We're stuck making things that make us poorer as a culture. Bombs, missiles, fuel. Tailoring dress uniforms.

Remember the CCC, building things we still use and cherish 80 years later? Hyrdro dams, National Park facilities...

[Earth_First]

9. Grand, sweeping staircases with locally quarried stone...

Lodges and picnic areas. Trailways and bridges.

Yes, I am very fond of them all.

Sigh.

What a boon a resurrgence of the CCC could be to our economy and the public for the next 80 years...

[Kennah]

16. Even some state parks, like Millersylvania

http://www.parks.wa.gov/parks/?selectedpark=Millersylvania

[hack89]

18. Empty out the poor neighborhoods and ship them off to work construction?

I could see a lot of opposition to that.

Look where the desperate poverty and unemployment are - we are not a rural, agrarian country like we were in the early 1930s.

[maxsolomon]

19. Or we could put people to work building more weapons

Or as cannon fodder.

Like we do now.

No one seems opposed to that.

[hack89]

20. No - why don't we address root causes

education, health care, meaningful jobs, and less wealth inequality.

[maxsolomon]

22. come now, are you really so naive?

we don't because this is AMERICA, and we're #1. we don't even think those things are the proper provenance of government. we have an entire party dedicated to preventing that. root causes? get a job, any job, hippie.

we need to spend our treasure only to protect ourselves from the muslim hordes, or whatever new bogeyman replaces the communist menace.

[hack89]

23. ok. nt

[Hugin]

17. A General was the head of the WPA.

And many if not all of the employees were considered 'civil servants'. One of their most enduring projects was the Pentagon building itself.