Reduction of forces real concern

Military personnel who seek to extend their careers should stay in shape and stay out of trouble because the armed forces will strive to keep only the best through a post-war drawdown period, warns the new chairman of the House armed services personnel subcommittee.

Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., said his priority will be to improve quality of life for service members, their families and veterans. But the 63-year-old lawmaker and retired Army National Guard colonel also recognizes that tight defense budgets and planned force reductions, particularly for Army and Marine Corps, are part of the new “realism” for the military.

Wilson said he’s not endorsing Defense Secretary Robert Gate’s plan, unveiled this month, to cut the active force Army and Marine Corps, starting in fiscal 2015. Army strength would drop by 27,000 and the Marine Corps by 15,000 to 20,000, Gates said, assuming ground force commitments in Afghanistan can be reduced significantly by then.

“I’m concerned,” said Wilson. “Our country is at war. We have an enemy that is very persistent and determined. And I do believe we have extraordinary instability with Iran and North Korea. We’ve made a mistake in the past by reducing the ground forces.”

Gates explained that, even after the projected cuts, which the service chiefs endorse, the Army still would have 40,000 more soldiers and the Corps 7,000 more Marines than when Gates took office four years ago.

Some force cuts are set to occur even sooner, under Gates’ order to the services to find $100 billion in budget savings over the next five years to be used for higher priority programs.

Wilson said he already has had discussions at the Pentagon about the “extraordinary budget constraints” and the planned force cuts.

“I want to make sure every effort is made to be equitable and truly personnel-oriented” regarding “number of personnel who simply will not be able to be retained,” Wilson said. “I want a system where people know up front how important it is that they maintain their physical fitness, that they make sure there are no disciplinary infractions of any kind.”

The key to protecting careers will be to stay deployable, he said.

Wilson said he still intends to fight to correct long-standing inequities in military entitlements. He wants to end the “widow’s tax” in the Survivor Benefit Plan (also called SBP-DIC offset), and to lower the age-60 start of reserve retirement to make the plan fairer compared to active duty retirement. He also wants some military retirement paid to all service members forced by medical conditions to leave service early.

Wilson said he is inclined to oppose Gate’s call to raise TRICARE fees “modestly” for working-age military retirees, starting in fiscal 2012, and to raise fees automatically thereafter to match medical inflation.