Monday, September 23, 2013

MILITARY UPDATE FRA


by Joe Barnes, National Executive Director, FRA

 

Military Budget Morass – In this week’s Military Update column, Tom Philpott writes about the current and future challenges facing the military services and refers to the “deepening readiness crisis that Congress has inflicted on the armed forces.”  He cites the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps service chiefs’ testimony before the House Armed Services Committee this week on the effects of the sequester-driven chaos of 2013, new budget threats and a possible government shutdown next month if a continuing resolution is not enacted to keep the government operating at 2013 levels after October 1.  The military faces year two of arbitrary defense cuts, this one set at $52 billion for the coming fiscal year, and the service chiefs testified that military force readiness is “failing" rapidly.  Read the entire column which is posted on FRA’s new web site at www.fra.org.

 

Lone Sailor Awards – The U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation's annual Lone Sailor Awards dinner was this week and award recipients were retired USMC General P.X. Kelley, the 28th Commandant of the Marine Corps and successful businessman; former Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who served on key sea services oversight committees during her 20 years in the United States Senate; CNN founder and USCG veteran Ted Turner; and Dan Akerson, Chairman & CEO of General Motors, who served in the United States Navy.   The annual Lone Sailor Awards dinner began in 1987 and annual awardees have distinguished themselves, drawing on their Sea Service experience to become successful in their subsequent careers and lives, while exemplifying the core values of Honor, Courage and Commitment.  And photos in the dinner program included a picture of PRPEC Claire Purdy and the late PNP Bob Bastian at the FRA Central Liaison Committee's Memorial Day ceremony at the Navy Memorial last May.

 

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