On wasteful spending.

• Position: READERS'FORUM - Letter to the editor

* Two important issues in the January 2011 issue of National Defense. In "Defense Watch," (p.8), Ms. Erwin was trying to provide some useful advice to the defense industry, but the first sentence implies that the Pentagon and the defense agencies are really the problem. While the Department of Defense may be larger than most other federal departments, the biggest slice of the federal budget is for entitlements. The problem with entitlements is that they are spread over most of the other departments.

One of the biggest ways for the Defense Department to spend less is to let generals and admirals conduct wars and police actions without the interference of politicians on a daily basis.

The second issue concerns the article, "Weighed Down by Heavy Hardware, Marine Brigades Go on a Diet." (p.24) While I have done only a little consulting on Marine Corps programs, I do understand the issue. I know the problems with the weight of personnel transport. In one of my incarnations, I supported an Army project office involved with crew-served weapons. One of my areas was vehicle weapon mounts.

I used master gunners from a handful of Army divisions for input. One of the divisions wanted the Humvees to be stripped down with the doors removed so the double-articulated swing-arm mounts could be used everywhere in the vehicle. They wanted the light and medium machine guns to be removed from the mount instantly so the ground troops (acting as infantry) could take the weapons into buildings to complete the missions. Another master gunner said that his division wanted the Humvees to be fully armored and completely buttoned up so that war fighters were free from harm. They wanted to be an armored fighting force not an infantry force.

The difference between the two groups it is that the fully armored Humvee with a four-person crew and a full complement of guns, ammo, water, and fuel weighs more than the vehicle can support without an upgraded transmission, upgraded axles, upgraded engine, bullet-resistant windows, and air conditioning. The division that thought they were supposed to be infantry was my idea of what the Marine Corps should be. The other division has its place, but it is not in the USMC Since Ms. Erwin has identified the USMC mission correctly--quick reaction, expeditionary force--we need to ensure that the USMC from the commandant on down understands what their mission is. I agree with...