The looming threat of sequestration, the $500 billion across-the-board cuts enacted if Congress can't reach a budget deal by the end of November, has led to rampant speculation about what impact the slashes could have. Despite concerns about layoffs, fewer aircrafts and cuts to benefits, experts doubt that the training of troops will suffer, Stars and Stripes reports.
The issue was raised several weeks ago when Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter mentioned that some troops may be deployed without sufficient training if there are substantial cuts. Others are not quite as sure. Even if the cuts are allowed to happen, Congress will likely find ways to reallocate funds to ensure deploying soldiers are adequately trained.
"What the Defense Department can do is ask Congress to move money around to cover that," Todd Harrison, a fellow for defense budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, told the publication. "They couldn't just reassign the money, they'd need permission to move those funds. But I can't see any way Congress would refuse that."
Concerns about training are just one of many worries in the military community about sequestration, but President Barack Obama is confident the cuts can be avoided. He recently told The Virginian-Pilot there's no reason Congress cannot reach a compromise on the issue.