Even in Afghanistan, a Focus on Budget Battles of Washington

By THOM SHANKER

FORWARD OPERATING BASE FENTY, Afghanistan – The new defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, arrived at this rugged security outpost situated along a ratline of insurgent infiltration from Pakistan to talk to American troops about the war. Instead, the soldiers wanted to hear only about the budget battle back in Washington – in particular, how steep reductions in spending for the Pentagon would affect their careers, their salaries and their health care benefits, and their eventual retirements. Perhaps that could be viewed as a positive sign of the status of combat operations in Afghanistan. As Afghan forces take the lead in securing their own country, members of the 101st Airborne Division’s First Brigade Combat Team were not so concerned about the quality of their body armor, or the details of counterinsurgency tactics, or whether there was a slackening of support for the war back home. Those are the sorts of things that usually come up when a defense secretary convenes a town-hall-style meeting with troops in the combat zone. In his opening remarks delivered this weekend at the forward operating base, located in Jalalabad, a strategic crossroads in eastern Nangarhar Province, Mr. Hagel discussed the war effort, of course, and thanked the troops for their service to the nation. And he pledged to always keep at the forefront the needs of America’s service personnel and their families. Then he opened up the dialogue to questions. Not a single one was about the war effort. “Mr. Secretary,” came the first question, “with the high unemployment rate facing our veterans of our Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, what is — what are we doing to help veterans as they transition out of the military and back into the civil sector to be successful?” The second query to Mr. Hagel went straight at the across-the-board spending cuts, known as sequestration, and their impact on the military. “Mr. Secretary,” the soldier asked, “how will sequestration affect military P.C.S. movements?” The initials P.C.S. are military shorthand for “permanent change of station,” the official term for being given a new assignment at a new location as members of the military advance their careers. The next question went to a specific category of military spending, in particular whether a partner in a same-sex relationship with a member of the armed services would be receiving the full set of benefits traditionally given to spouses. Following that was a question on “budget cuts and the downsizing of the military,” followed by a final question on “how is everything going on in Congress right now going to affect us that are about to retire?” “I think you all are aware of what’s going on in Washington with sequestration,” Mr. Hagel said. “We are required to take a cut in our budget. We are managing that. We are dealing with it. We will continue to manage with those realities.” But he acknowledged that the shifting budgetary foundation for the Pentagon “affects everything; it affects all of our programs.” He told the soldiers that he and the military chiefs were committed to assuring that “our readiness continues to stay as active and alert and essential as at any time. And so we are adjusting in training, steaming time, flight time, areas that don’t affect directly our men and women in uniform and our readiness.” The defense secretary did not try to dissuade the troops from fearing that sequestration was a serious problem. “If it continues, it’ll be more and more difficult for us to do what we are required to do, and that is to assure the security of America around the world,” he said. “We will work through it,” Mr. Hagel concluded, “and we’ll continue to work with the Congress on ways to make sure that that certainty of security is there, and will continue to be there.”