With the end of the “Cold War” America’s armed forces are too large and
expensive to maintain while in an era of peace. The roles of the military has
changed, and the United States has come to the conclusion that military might no
longer means having the larger force. Politicians have initiated the closure of
bases, the reduced production by defense contractors, the decrease in military
and civilian personnel. The actions taken to reduce the military has left
dwindling numbers, and this must be changed to ensure that the U.S. military
continues to be a mighty super power. The idea of a smaller military was not
even considered during the “Cold War”, but today the treat to America is at
a all-time low. This has sparked politicians to restructure the forces and
reduce the spending needed to maintain those forces. These reductions are based
on the budget spending what is not cost effective to the U.S. and the public.
The cost cutting needs to be done, without too large of an effect on the
employed personnel, whether military or civilian (O’Rourke, 2). Though the
reductions in the forces still needs to be made, careful monitoring of the
amounts of The reductions in personnel have gone past the recommended limit set
Congress, and have created a greater need for personnel. If a conflict were to
happen to day, the U.S. could only send four heavy divisions, compared to the
seven sent during the Gulf War. This greatly decreases America’s ability to
thwart an attack from several different countries at one time. This idea of
sustaining several conflicts at one time has been a major Because the U.S. is
the last great superpower, it is a very large target, and when involvement is
needed to aid others the forces are diminished the ability to be an effective
deterrent. Analysts have seen an increased demand for the continued policing
actions that the U.S. plays a major part in. Congress has also cut spending on
defense technology, which has caused defense contractors to make cutbacks in
employees. 1.3 million jobs have been cut since the employment peak of 1987.
This has caused increased inflation, and has hurt the economy of United States.
Reconstruction of the spending on the technology needs to equally dispersed
through the market to even out jobs for all defense companies.