Panetta: 'Human Side' Makes Pentagon Cuts Tough

Since our Nation's founding political leaders have struggled with the appropriate amount of funding and manning of our Armed Forces. This is driven primarily by fiscal and social policy, which for the most part, has been relatively conservative in the past. In the evolution of conflict, though, the ability of our Nation to contract and expand it's Armed Forces has changed significantly.
Reconstituting it quickly in future contingencies may take too long and may prove problematic in our Nation's internal and external security. Can we add troops fast enough to meet, say, a serious threat from the Chinese? The Iranian's? The North Korean's? What will be enough of a deterrent or as a offensive force to push back aggression anywhere our national security interests require?
This is a tough question to ponder as our Nation's civilian and political leaders look into the proverbial crystal ball to ensure the American republic and its citizens are protected as given by the Constitution and what we've to come to expect as our way of life. Given the myriad of complex issues to consider and ponder shouldn't a hard look be taken at our country's past experiences with rapid drawdown of its Armed Forces, by beating swords into plough shares, or guns into butter…you pick the euphemism, so we don't repeat the tragedies of the past?
The personal views expressed above are those of an active duty member of the U.S Armed Forces and do not constitute those of the Department of Defense.
Tim Clark

Contractor costs are sky high, you are correct. However, the hits are coming to those in uniform - the ones least deserving.

There are no plans to cut anything from the Pentagon's bottom line. There are plans to reduce the Pentagon's growth in spending over the next ten years, but I wouldn't count on it.

Regarding the human side, parts of the problem are the huge growth in systems cost, the procurement of untested systems and the outsourcing of services via sweetheart Pentagon contracts, all of which should be countered.