Defense Secretary Hegseth has just announced the elimination of 20% of the military’s four-star generals and admirals plus deep cuts in other senior military officer ranks. While many Americans decry what they call the gutting of our military leadership, I joyfully celebrate the move. At the peak of my 24-year Air Force career, I would have likely been a target of such cuts. Nevertheless, the action is long overdue. Let’s look into the bloated top leadership of the Department of Defense and other government bureaucracies that is finally being pared down.
There are 38 four-star officers in the active duty military. So, a 20% cut affecting only seven or eight officers is not a lot of compensation savings, but it has the news media spun up. The SECDEF has further directed the trimming of all other general and admiral positions by 10% and has extended similar cuts to the National Guard. All these reductions are only a tiny fraction of the other massive DOGE cuts in the federal government. But, if the positions are not necessary, they simply need to be gone. The military is not exempt.
World War II, the biggest military operation in U.S. history, had 12 million troops engaged at its most intense period with only 17 four- and five-star generals and admirals at the top. Today, we have just over two million in the military with 38 four-stars at the top–more than double the generals overseeing one-sixth of the combatants.
Indulge me in a personal example of military over-manning. Many of the senior officer jobs in the military involve serving as a superior’s backup. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has a vice chairman. The chiefs of staff for all branches of the military have vice chiefs of staff. Just below the star ranks are colonels and Navy and Coast Guard captains who command Army brigades, Navy ships, Air Force wings, Marine regiments, and Coast Guard vessels. All of these have second-in-command officers of the same rank with various titles. I was an Air Force vice wing commander rising later to wing commander who had a vice wing commander. My honest assessment is that the vice wing commander positions throughout the Air Force (and there are many) are not necessary. Across the military, in my opinion, positions labeled deputy, vice, assistant, and executive are seldom necessary. Their duties could be assumed by the commanders or other subordinates. Eliminating these backup military officer positions alone would save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year without any degradation in military capability. Numerous other non-essential positions that have little to do with combat readiness should disappear.
Our current national unemployment rate is 4.2%. That is a perfect rate. A healthy unemployment rate is 4% to 6%. Some unemployment is necessary to accommodate new entries and career changes. It is interesting that all the DOGE manpower cuts are having little effect on overall employment. Government workers must be finding employment where there is legitimate need. The federal government presently employees over three million civilian people, and there are over two million military personnel. I’m sure DOGE still has lots of fat to trim from over five million people. A lot of inefficiency still has to be found to gain ground in the arduous process of stopping the ever-growing $37 trillion dollar national debt.
The deep cuts into our inflated federal government bureaucracy by the DOGE teams are necessary if we are to survive as a nation. Positions similar to the Pentagon’s manpower reductions are being slashed in all federal government departments and agencies where excess workforce numbers are found. The Chicken Little cry from the Democrats and even some Republicans that critical services are being cut and people are going to die is shameful. No one is terminating employees essential to life and productivity. President Trump through his cabinet secretaries and DOGE is just chipping away the excess in government that has caused skyrocketing debt and absurd tax levels for decades. I applaud President Trump, Secretary Hegspeth, and all other cabinet secretaries who are finding the courage to do the right thing for Americans that their predecessors failed to do. Let us embrace the axing of the unfruitful branches of the tree, even though it may carry with it some temporary pain and chaos.
Thank you for this article. All so true and you explain so well that we can see the best is yet to come.
Thank you, Carolyn. For the first time in decades, we have a president who is setting this country back on track.