I was speaking with my husband the other day about how we could cut a lot of spending out of the military budget without gutting our ability to fight and defend this great nation. The point I was making is one I haven't heard being talked about among the political commentators, so I thought I'd present it here.

My father was in the military during WWII. Both my parents were long-time civilian employees of the Department of Defense. I even worked for a time as a civilian on an Army base. One of the things I've observed is that, with pretty much any government installation, there's a ton of redundancy. The military is no exception. As it stands right now, for example, all branches of the military have an air-based operation. The Navy has jets and choppers, the Marines have jets and choppers, the Army has jets and choppers, and of course, the Air Force has a large aircraft arsenal. (See here for a list of current military aircraft by branch.) What if we re-organized our military forces so they better fit their primary focus. In other words, have the Navy focused on water-based functions. The Marines are land-based, so should be moved to the Army, which are also focused on land-based operations. Lastly, the Air Force would be focused on air operations.

Using air power as our example, Naval vessels would still carry aircraft, but they'd be part of the Air Force, based on a Naval platform. This way, the Navy's training doesn't need to include aircraft maintenance, flying, etc. The same is true of the other branches. They'd still have access to air power, but it would be part of the Air Force, on loan or stationed with that other branch, and again, saving those other branches from having to duplicate the training, maintenance, etc. needed for air power capability.

The same is true for water-based vessels. Currently the Army has several types of ships under its auspices. All watercraft, under this realignment, would be part of the Navy. They'd be loaned or on assignment to another branch if needed.

As part of this shift, I'd create a new branch of military -- Special Forces -- and move all the various Special Forces groups (Navy SEALs, Army Rangers and Green Berets, Air Force Pararescue, etc.) to this new branch. Here again there's a lot of duplication. All branches of the current military, including the Coast Guard, have at least one Special Operations group. With this realignment, all Special Forces would be in this one branch, and be loaned or stationed as needed. I'd maintain some specialization among these groups. For instance, there's still be groups like the SEALs with specialized training for aquatic missions.

On top of this, I think the military is too top heavy. The Pentagon should get a serious evaluation and gleaning of unnecessary personnel. (Actually, every aspect of the government could benefit from a similar action.)

I don't have a huge think tank behind me to research this for viability, but I'd like to see someone truly consider something like this. I know it would be difficult to get such a calcified organization as the military to even consider such a drastic change, but we need to do something to get military spending under control without hurting its ability to carry out its mission.