The Military of the United States Should Be Radically Restructured (Read on for Details)

First of all, thanks in advance to whomever accepts this challenge. I need a test run of this idea. The United States Military far exceeds the size needed to adequately defend this nation against foreign aggressors or even to deter potential threats. More importantly, exorbitant amounts of money are spent maintaining both this size and the incredible degree of technological sophistication of our military forces. This situation is both unnecessary and unsustainable, and diverts valuable resources from more important programs. First, let us deal with the unnecessary part: 1) Our military spending is 45% of the world total. It exceeds the military spending of Russia, China, and all members [except, of course, the US] of NATO combined (and quite a few additional countries, mind you. I simply don't feel like doing the math) 2) Our nation is protected by two things that make the possibility of the form of great power war for which our military is best suited obsolete. First, we are surrounded by the world's largest oceans on two sides and extremely friendly countries on the other two. Second, we have the world's most effective nuclear deterrent. While we may have fewer nuclear weapons than Russia, we have about a thousand more in the "ready-to-launch" state that makes them a true threat. No great or rising power will be willing to risk the launch of some of these weapons and the subsequent annihilation of their nation. 3) We have 13 carrier battle groups, each of which is the equal of any Navy on Earth. There is no other possible explanation for this than imperial ambition. Now, let us deal with unsustainable: Our military spending costs our nation 439.3 billion dollars this year. This amount actually exceeds our budget deficit by a significant amount. While military spending may not be the only, or even largest contributor to our national debt, it is still significant. More importantly, rising powers like China and India will be able to easily outpace our military spending within a few decades, making spending now futile in the long run and eternal dominance impossible. Finally, let us deal with the better uses the money could be put to: First and foremost, the money could be used to pay down our debt, the interest payments on which consume some 8% of your federal tax dollars. Secondly, the money could support scientific programs, especially space exploration. Finally, the money could assist in maintaining the solvency of various social programs. My Proposal: -Cut the military budget significantly. -Greatly decrease spending on military research, and focus that on simply incorporating new technologies and keeping our forces ready to assist in peacekeeping missions and relief efforts. -Reduce spending on weapons like air superiority fighters and tanks designed to combat advanced military enemies. -Pull out of the vast majority of our overseas bases. Maintain a few only as stopping off points on the way to peacekeeping missions. -Scrap most of our Navy carrier groups. Two to defend the homeland and two to support UN mandates, peacekeeping missions, and American interests should be far more than sufficient. -Re-institute conscription, but only allow volunteers to serve overseas (in a system similar to that of some Nordic countries) -Restructure the military to defend our borders and perform peacekeeping missions as its primary objective. This would involve equipping them with lower-cost weaponry with readily available ammunition (such as the ever-reliable AK-47 and -74) and focusing their training (at least for peacekeeping volunteers) less on military-on-military maneuvers and more on interacting with local cultures. This proposal would have the following benefits beyond the freeing up of funding. -Increased goodwill towards America as we are seen to be co-operating more wit the international community -Increased readiness for the sort of wars we are likely to fight in the coming century. That is, asymmetrical wars where boots on the ground and local knowledge far outweigh overwhelming firepower in terms of military value. -Decreased incentive for rising powers to build massive militaries. The costs I can think of are only two: -Decreased ability to bully other nations (though two carrier battle groups could easily reduce most nations to rubble without endangering american lives) -Decreased American pride in their military.