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Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Tuesday that troops and their families will be asked to sacrifice on pay and benefits to preserve readiness in an era of tighter budgets.
Hagel listed politically-charged changes to compensation and personnel policy as one of his top six priorities in reforming the military following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as the department gears up to meet new challenges.
"This may be the most difficult" to achieve among his six priorities, Hagel said of proposals to trim pay increases, overhaul TRICARE and review retirement benefits while adapting to cuts in personnel.
"Without serious attempts to achieve significant savings in this area, which consumes roughly half of the DoD budget and is increasing every year, we risk becoming an unbalanced force," Hagel said.
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Now, my first question to Hagel: Are you advocating a pay cut for yourself as well?
Everyone's pretty much in a hurry to cut pay AND benefits - except for themselves, as we saw with congress shutting down "parts of the Govt", while voting to pay themselves while they failed to do the job on our budget.
