Note From AFA President -- Defense Budget -- the True Picture

When the Administration rolled out its FY13 budget request, it showed a slide which pointed to the draw-downs after each of our latest wars.  The slide said we drew down after Korea -42%; after Vietnam -30%; after the Cold War -33%, and after Iraq and Afghanistan (only) -21%.

This picture was presented to show that our projected draw-down “was not so bad.”

The only problem was … there were a lot of factors missing … such as the impact of sequestration.  I have been searching for a piece that … well … presents the numbers in a different way.  And … I found it.  It was written by Peter Huessy, Senior Defense Consultant to AFA.  What Peter did was look at the numbers in a different way.  Instead of looking at them 4 years after Korea; 6 years after Vietnam; 12 years after the Cold War; and 7 years after Iraq/Afghanistan, he looked at them at a constant interval afterwards … plus a "peak to trough" comparison.  And he put the numbers into context of other things going on in the world … such as the formation of the All-Volunteer Force.

The piece is full of numbers … and I tried to simplify it … but as I read it for the 3^rd and 4^th time, anything I took out just weakened Mr. Huessy’s point.  And … he does have a chart which summarizes all the numbers.

Take a look at the piece ... you can find it at http://www.afa.org//HBS/PDFs/Defense_Spending-the_True_Picture.pdf… and as always … give me your views.  If you think this note is worthwhile, consider forwarding it to your friends, the press, or anyone else who might be interested.

For your consideration.

Mike

Michael M. Dunn
President/CEO
Air Force Association

"The only thing more expensive than a first-rate Air Force is … a second-rate Air Force."  --  Senate staff member