budget

Behind the cover: Smaller raises, fewer troops

By Gina Harkins on August 6, 2013 Battle Rattle, Behind the Cover

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel for the first time detailed the hard choices his department will face if impacted by decade-long budget cuts — and it could include a historically low end strength for the Corps of just 150,000 Marines. This week’s issue of Marine Corps Times examines the true effects the the across-the-board spending cuts — set to continue unless Congress stops them — will have on the Defense Department. Smaller pay raises for troops, major cuts to personnel and reductions in housing allowances are all areas at risk, Hagel said. For Marines, the most jarring news out of Hagel’s…

Marine junior officer: Cut my pay

By Hope Hodge Seck on March 25, 2013 Battle Rattle, budget, Leadership, Marines, Washington

The Wall Street Journal is starting the day with a provocative opinion editorial ($) by Benjamin Luxenberg, a Marine first lieutenant who says some troops should be willing to take a cut to pay and benefits in order to solve the nation’s fiscal crisis–and he’ll be the first to volunteer. Luxenberg argues that troop pay has become “sacrosanct” in the national dialogue, and crucial defense programs are facing deeper cuts because of that. “National security shouldn’t be sacrificed on the altar of military pay,” he writes. The statement comes with caveats: before wholescale cuts, Luxenberg says pay should be aligned across…

Behind the Cover: MARSOC’s covert Pacific mission

By Dan Lamothe on February 18, 2013 Behind the Cover, budget, MARSOC, Pacific issues, Special operations, Washington

For years, Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command has received attention mostly for its actions in Afghanistan. It’s far from the only theater the elite force has teams in, however. From Africa to the Pacific, Marine special operators have deployed across the globe to work, mostly in the shadows. This week’s Marine Corps Times cover story takes a look at those missions, focusing closely on one high-speed rescue in the Philippines. I caught wind of the rescue recently during a dinner in Washington, D.C., and MARSOC provided enough details afterward to make it clear how dangerous special operations can be,…

Gates orders "thorough force structure review" of the Corps

By Gina Cavallaro on August 12, 2010 Battle Rattle, budget, World War II

This time he really means business. Gates sounded the death knell for U.S. Joint Forces command at the beginning of the week and by the end of the week he had his sites trained on the Marine Corps. In a speech at the Marines’ Memorial Club and Hotel in San Francisco on Thursday, he ordered a thorough force structure review of the Marine Corps. It’s no news that the Corps is prepared to draw down its personnel after operations in Afghanistan wind down. But this goes deeper. He said he wants to determine what an expeditionary force in readiness should…

Browsing: budget