When I first heard the news that the Bush administration was going to be closing military bases I was initially gleeful. The prospects of disillusioned Republicans danced in my head. I imagined all the thousands of service men and woman who bought into the Bush bullshit finding out that the guy they thought they knew had just indefinitely relieved them. I thought back to all the comments by all the pinhead conservatives who tried to paint Kerry as the anti-defense candidate.
"He voted against this piece of hardware and this billion dollar gadget that's guaranteed to kill thousands. Oh, the horror!"
The horror indeed. I remember looking at the records of the dark lord Cheney when he was a congressman, and Powell and Bush I back in the day when they were championing the "peace dividend" and advocating cuts in the military that were much deeper than what Kerry voted against. I know the hypocrisy and thought that now the predominantly Republican military would find out the truth.
Then reason kicked me in the head. No news is ever good news, with Bush loose. Sure they're saying that we're going to save $48 billion dollars over 20 years but my question is where are they going to spend the savings. After all this "conservative" President is the most spendthrift commander-in-thief this country has ever known.
Let me take a couple of guesses. How about battle-field nuclear weapons, or maybe the fantasy program that continues under the assumption that it's wise to spend trillions of dollars in the stratosphere for a sci-fi wet dream known as "Star Wars" targeted at stopping Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles?(It's a dream because if it ain't 100% perfect it don't matter) Or better yet, another war or Republican directed government waste that funnels off profit to private companies at the expense of the taxpayers? After all they are Republicans and this is your money we're talking about.
Another thing struck me as odd. Isn't it strange that there is only going to be a savings of $48 billion over 20 years when they're proposing the closing of 180 bases and we spend well over $400 billion a year on the military? I mean where is all the rest of the money going. That's only $13,333,333.34 dollars per base, per year. We spent $420.7 billion on the military last year not including the expenditures for Iraq and Afghanistan (don't get me started). So where did the rest of the $418.3 billion go?
If I'm doing my math correctly and assuming that the military budget stays at the present amount over the next 20 years that means that we'll spend well over $8 trillion protecting this great nation (by the way we kicked King George's ass without a standing army or navy and more recently got our asses kicked not once but twice by 3rd world nations).
$48 billion is like .6% of the total budget.
Let me say that again:
The budgets for 180 bases for the next 20 years equals .6 (YES THAT'S POINT 6) %(PERCENT) of the total military budget.
So my question is where is all the rest of the $7,952,000,000,000 (SEVEN TRILLION, NINE-HUNDRED AND FIFTY-TWO BILLION DOLLARS) going to be spent if it's not being spent on military bases?
Chew on that but here's the list of where it's not going to be spent:
Alaska Kulis Air Guard Station
Arizona Air Force Research Lab, Mesa Allen Hall Armed Forces Reserve Center, Tucson
Arkansas El Dorado Armed Forces Reserve Center Stone U.S. Army Reserve Center, Pine Bluff
California Armed Forces Reserve Center Bell Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Oakland Defense Finance and Accounting Service, San Bernardino Defense Finance and Accounting Service, San Diego Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Seaside Naval Support Activity Corona Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, Detachment Concord Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Encino Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Los Angeles Onizuka Air Force Station Riverbank Army Ammunition Plant
Connecticut Sgt. Libby U.S. Army Reserve Center, New Haven Submarine Base New London Turner U.S. Army Reserve Center, Fairfield U.S. Army Reserve Center Maintenance Support Facility, Middletown
Delaware Kirkwood U.S. Army Reserve Center, Newark
Florida Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Orlando Navy Reserve Center, St. Petersburg
Georgia Fort Gillem Fort McPherson Inspector/Instructor, Rome Naval Air Station Atlanta Naval Supply Corps School, Athens U.S. Army Reserve Center, Columbus
Hawaii Army National Guard Reserve Center, Honokaa
Idaho Navy Reserve Center, Pocatello
Illinois Armed Forces Reserve Center, Carbondale Navy Reserve Center, Forest Park
Indiana Navy Marine Corps Reserve Center, Grissom Air Reserve Base, Bunker Hill Navy Recruiting District Headquarters, Indianapolis Navy Reserve Center, Evansville Newport Chemical Depot U.S. Army Reserve Center, Lafayette U.S. Army Reserve Center, Seston
Iowa Navy Reserve Center, Cedar Rapids Navy Reserve Center, Sioux City Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Dubuque
Kansas Kansas Army Ammunition Plant
Kentucky Army National Guard Reserve Center, Paducah Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Lexington Navy Reserve Center, Lexington U.S. Army Reserve Center, Louisville U.S. Army Reserve Center, Maysville
Louisiana Baton Rouge Army National Guard Reserve Center Naval Support Activity, New Orleans Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Baton Rouge Roberts U.S. Army Reserve Center, Baton Rouge
Maine Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Limestone Naval Reserve Center, Bangor Naval Shipyard Portsmouth
Maryland Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Patuxent River Navy Reserve Center, Adelphi Pfc. Flair U.S. Army Reserve Center, Frederick
Massachusetts Malony U.S. Army Reserve Center Otis Air Guard Base Westover U.S. Army Reserve Center, Citopee
Michigan Navy Reserve Center Marquette Parisan U.S. Army Reserve Center, Lansing Selfridge Army Activity W.K. Kellogg Airport Air Guard Station
Minnesota Navy Reserve Center Duluth
Mississippi Mississippi Army Ammunition Plant Naval Station, Pascagoula U.S. Army Reserve Center, Vicksburg
Missouri Army National Guard Reserve Center, Jefferson Barracks Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Kansas City Defense Finance and Accounting Service, St. Louis Marine Corps Support Center, Kansas City Navy Recruiting District Headquarters, Kansas Navy Reserve Center, Cape Girardeau
Montana Galt Hall U.S. Army Reserve Center, Great Falls
Nebraska Army National Guard Reserve Center, Columbus Army National Guard Reserve Center, Grand Island Army National Guard Reserve Center, Kearny Naval Recruiting District Headquarters, Omaha Navy Reserve Center, Lincoln
Nevada Hawthorne Army Depot
New Hampshire Doble U.S. Army Reserve Center, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Portsmouth
New Jersey Fort Monmouth Inspector/Instructor Center, West Trenton Kilmer U.S. Army Reserve Center, Edison
New Mexico Cannon Air Force Base Jenkins Armed Forces Reserve Center, Albuquerque
New York Armed Forces Reserve Center, Amityville Army National Guard Reserve Center, Niagra Falls Carpenter U.S. Army Reserve Center, Poughkeepsie Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Rome Navy Recruiting District Headquarters, Buffalo Navy Reserve Center Glenn Falls Navy Reserve Center Horsehead Navy Reserve Center Watertown Niagra Falls International Airport Air Guard Station
North Carolina Navy Reserve Center, Asheville Niven U.S. Army Reserve Center, Albermarle
Ohio Army National Guard Reserve Center, Mansfield Army National Guard Reserve Center, Westerville Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Dayton Mansfield Lahm Municipal Airport Air Guard Station Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Akron Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Cleveland Parrott U.S. Army Reserve Center, Kenton U.S. Army Reserve Center, Whitehall
Oklahoma Armed Forces Reserve Center Broken Arrow Armed Forces Reserve Center Muskogee Army National Guard Reserve Center Tishomingo Krowse U.S. Army Reserve Center, Oklahoma City Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Tulsa Oklahoma City (95th)
Pennsylvania Bristol Engineering Field Activity Northeast Kelly Support Center Naval Air Station Willow Grove Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Reading North Penn U.S. Army Reserve Center, Morristown Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station Serrenti U.S. Army Reserve Center, Scranton U.S. Army Reserve Center Bloomsburg U.S. Army Reserve Center Lewisburg U.S. Army Reserve Center Williamsport W. Reese U.S. Army Reserve Center/OMS, Chester
Puerto Rico Army National Guard Reserve Center, Humacao Lavergne U.S. Army Reserve Center, Bayamon
Rhode Island Harwood U.S. Army Reserve Center, Providence USARC Bristol
South Carolina Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Charleston South Naval Facilities Engineering Command
South Dakota Ellsworth Air Force Base
Tennessee U.S. Army Reserve Area Maintenance Support Facility, Kingsport
Texas Army National Guard Reserve Center No. 2, Dallas Army National Guard Reserve Center (Hondo Pass), El Paso Army National Guard Reserve Center, California Crossing Army National Guard Reserve Center, Ellington Army National Guard Reserve Center, Lufkin Army National Guard Reserve Center, Marshall Army National Guard Reserve Center, New Braunfels Brooks City Base Defense Finance and Accounting Service, San Antonio Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant Naval Station, Ingleside Navy Reserve Center, Lubbock Navy Reserve Center, Orange Red River Army Depot U.S. Army Reserve Center No. 2, Houston
Utah Deseret Chemical Depot
Virginia Fort Monroe
Washington 1LT Richard H. Walker U.S. Army Reserve Center Army National Guard Reserve Center, Everett Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Tacoma U.S. Army Reserve Center, Fort Lawton Vancouver Barracks
West Virginia Bias U.S. Army Reserve Center, Huntington Fairmont U.S. Army Reserve Center Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Moundsville
Wisconsin Gen. Mitchell International Airport ARS Navy Reserve Center, La Crosse Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Madison Olson U.S. Army Reserve Center, Madison U.S. Army Reserve Center, O'Connell
Wyoming Army Aviation Support Facility, Cheyenne Army National Guard Reserve Center, Thermopolis
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