• Although most every policy that he has come up with would have failed, he somehow has adopted many of the Bush policies since taking office and disguised them for his own. He is no longer withdrawing within 16 months like promised, he is listening to his generals and he is keeping the Defense Secretary Robert Gates. On the other side, he is appointing Shinseki to be the new VA Secretary, a man that strongly opposed many Bush policies. This is probably a move to try and not disenfranchise his base completely, and at least give them some glimpse of the hope that he promised.  
• His plan for longer periods between campaigns and fewer deployments is NOT a reality in an Obama administration. Unless he builds a completely new military out of Obamamaniacs, people are't going to be jumping on the bandwagon to enlist just out of uncertainty in Obama foreign policy. The fact that many troops are not going to reenlist and there is nobody to replace them means a shortage of troops, and the only way to counter that and give longer leaves is to mandate longer deployments, which is exactly what the troops DON'T need. Additionally, the withdrawal timetable that Obama has been cooking up with the leaders in Iraq is pretty sly. Even during the campaign he had asked the Iraqi leaders to suspend plans to withdrawal until after the election.
• Military funding is one key thing that I feel is a key issue with the troops. Although he might not cut funding directly to the troops, he will be cutting funding for defense technology, which to this point, has kept us ahead of the game in weapons systems. One reason why the Persian, Ottoman, Greek, Roman, Chinese and Japanese empires failed is that the rest of the world caught up to where they were at militarily while they neglected to advance themselves while ahead through complaicency. This is a horrible mistake that could kill us in the end. He wants to get rid of missle defense systems, disarm our nukes thinking that the rest of the world will follow suit, and cut advancement of military technologies that could put us on top. Honestly, how many more lives would have been lost if we had not developed the unmaned surveilance drones that have been used so effectively in Iraq? These things are needed to ensure future superiority and cannot be cut even to give a salary hike to the troops. 
• GI pay increases, although necessary to allow for inflation and compete in the market, need to be extremely modest. The currenct Obama plan calls for what looks like a pay increase of 2.9% above the 3.9% increase in the private sector. While I am in complete support of the troops and supporting them both financially and morally, I feel that this is a mistake that has been repeated throughout history and needs to be carefully watched over. We cannot afford to make the mistake of turning our soldiers into mercenaries. What I mean by this is that when you transition from loyal professional soldiers supported by the people to highly paid soldiers that are only enlisting becuase it is a lucrative career, there is a sense of loyalty that is lost that is crucial to the survival of any nation. With that pay increase also comes an additional burden on the people.

   We have seen this exact thing pop up throughout the centuries. Arguably one of the leading factors in the downfall of the Roman Empire was this transition. They had been fighting long wars and the soldiers were starting to mistrust the Emperor, who at the time was Septimus Severus. To offset this, an to gain back the trust and military power, he increased military pay from 900 to 2000 sestertii and minted new coins that were almost void of any gold or silver to pay for it. In other words they devalued their currency to pay off the troops so that they would fight. That does sound familiar. Something similar to that today would be to borrow money that we don't have or lower interest rates to offset the cost of increased troop pay so that the troops will stay and fight for Obama. And just like then, this pay increase neither gains their loyalty or their trust. You also create a sense of entitlement that is unsurpassed by any other industry. They have the ultimate 'need' for pay increase as they are the ones keeping this country safe. We create a military industry that they could strike if they wanted to. Once again, I believe in compensation for those that serve our country. I have great respect coming from a family of veterans, but there needs to be additional personal incentives for the people who enlist and money CANNOT become at the top of that list.