Defense Cuts, ‘Peace Dividend’

Adm. Eugene Carroll’s excellent article (Op-Ed, Dec. 10) listing the defense items we clearly don’t need was on target. One sure way to cut defense expenditures is to look at an idea whose time has come again: the unification of all the services. When a separate Air Force was established we were led to believe it would unify the various air units; instead we established some five separate Air Forces duplicating each other at a cost of billions of dollars.

The Army and the Marines are already squabbling over who should have the new fast-reaction forces planned for the future. This parochial arguing over turf is a way of life for our military. A way of life we no longer can afford both in terms of money and preparedness. A good place to start would be with our service academies. They are the basis for much of the petty bickering that has so weakened our military over the years. My suggestion would be to abolish them completely and turn them into federally funded first-rate engineering schools, the lack of which is this nations greatest weakness, militarily and economically. The officer corps could then be selected from the top graduates. I firmly believe the unification of all the services could be the basis for a much stronger United States.

WILLIAM J. SPELLISCY

Orange