10. How the Military Brass Dodges Budget-Cut Bullets
10.军队高级将领如何闪避军费预算削减
Early in 2011, then Defense Secretary Robert Gates proposed cutting $78 billion from the military budget over the next five years, in the process eliminating the positions of 102 generals and admirals — about 10% of the top brass. Needless to say, those who wear or want the stars on their uniforms were not pleased. As TIME's Mark Thompson noted in April, efforts to cut $1 trillion in defense spending over the next decade aren't going too well. The Navy has started constructing a $15 billion aircraft carrier to follow the one-fifth-completed and equally-costly USS Gerald R. Ford. Hopes that Gates' successor, Leon Panetta, would pick up his predecessor's budget-cutting axe were dimmed somewhat when the congressional "super committee" failed to agree on budget cuts, leaving Panetta warning that the resulting half trillion in additional cuts would create a "hollow force." The ranks of the brass, meanwhile, continue to grow: Over the past seven years, the Air Force has cut more than 42,000 personnel — while adding 44 generals. Last month, Panetta issued a list of 39 colonels being promoted en masse to brigadier general.
2011年初,美国国防部长盖茨建议在未来五年里削减约780亿美元的军队预算,撤销102个陆军和海军上将的职位——大约削减百分之十的高级职位。无需多言,那些已经身居或觊觎这些职位的服役人员对此很不满。如《时代》记者Mark Thompson在四月指出的那样,想要在未来十年削减1万亿美元国防开支的计划行之不易。海军已经开始建造一艘价值150亿美元的航空母舰,以跟进已经建好五分之一,且同样烧钱的杰拉尔德·R·福特级航空母舰。而在国会的“超级委员会没有达成预算削减计划的情况下,盖茨的继任者里昂·帕内塔接过他前任削减军费开支大斧的希望渺茫,帕内塔警告说一旦削减,剩下的5000亿美元会造成“国防空虚。而同时高级将领们的军衔也在上升:在过去七年来,空军裁员4.2万人,而同时增加了44名上将。上月,帕内塔公布了一份名单,将39名大校一次性提拔为准将。
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