Latest news with #militarycuts
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
Tactical Grooming Barbershop Wins a 2025 Best of Alabama Award
MADISON, AL, UNITED STATES, June 6, 2025 / / -- Most people have a backup plan for a bad haircut, but Tactical Grooming Barbershop makes sure you don't need one! This Madison-based business has built its reputation on sharp military-style cuts, hot towel straight razor shaves, and a smooth, efficient experience from start to finish. There are no unnecessary extras, no long waits… Just clean lines, good service, and a setup that respects your time! Founded in 2020 by Corey, a military veteran with a background in IT and leadership, Tactical Grooming Barbershop was built on discipline, attention to detail, and the belief that a great cut shouldn't feel like rolling the dice. While Corey designed and built the space, it's his wife, Krista Nixon, who brings it to life behind the chair. As the lead barber, Krista's precision and skill have earned the shop a loyal following. That commitment to quality extends beyond the chair, too—Tactical Grooming crafts its own line of all-natural beard products, like Redstone Beard Butter and Vanilla Coffee Beard Oil, made to keep things looking sharp between appointments. 'We're not trying to reinvent the wheel,' Corey says. 'We just want people to leave feeling confident and taken care of. We've got your six!' Earlier this year, Tactical Grooming opened a second location inside the Marshall Space Flight Center, giving even more North Alabama clients access to this go-to barbershop's signature approach. And now, the brand has expanded again—this time with a new women's salon, Classy Darlin' Salon, recently opened in Huntsville. It's a fresh chapter that brings the same focus on quality and care to a whole new clientele. Tactical Grooming Barbershop was also named a 2025 Best of Alabama Award winner—an honor based entirely on public votes and happy clients! Between the sharp cuts, the solid products, and the steady stream of regulars… Tactical Grooming has carved out a lane that's all its own. Click here for more information Address: 105E Church St., Madison, AL 35758 Tactical Grooming Barbershop Tactical Grooming Barbershop (256) 676-9600 email us here Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
The Independent
13-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Hegseth's plan to cut senior military jobs could hit more than 120 high-ranking officers
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth 's plans to slash the number of senior military leaders across the services would cut more than 120 high-ranking officer jobs in the active duty and National Guard, including as many as nine top general slots. Based on the percentages outlined by Hegseth and his senior staff, 20% of the 44 authorized top active duty general and admiral jobs would be eliminated, along with 10% of the more than 800 one-, two- and three-star positions, according to numbers compiled by The Associated Press. The cuts — about nine positions among four-star generals and 80 jobs across the other leadership levels — would affect dozens of active duty officers scattered across the five services as well as those who are in joint command jobs, such as those overseeing Africa, the Middle East and Europe. The changes would eliminate 33 senior National Guard positions. The cuts are part of a broader government-wide campaign to slash spending and personnel across federal agencies that is being pushed by President Donald Trump's administration and ally Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. According to Hegseth and others, the intent of the military job reductions isn't to reduce the overall size of the force but to thin out the higher ranks and offset those cuts with additional troops at lower levels. While the overall number of service members may not drop, the salary costs will be lower. Some Democratic members of Congress have criticized Hegseth's plans as an attempt to politicize the military and oust leaders that don't agree with the Trump administration. The changes also come as the world is roiled by conflicts, including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and as the U.S. has troops deployed in Syria and elsewhere. Shifting leadership responsibilities Military officials expect that as various jobs are downgraded — for example from a lieutenant general in charge to a major general or brigadier general — more leadership responsibilities will fall on colonels or Navy captains and other subordinates. And while many of the job cuts will come through attrition, as senior officers retire or move on, the services say they will have the flexibility to move people into higher priority positions and get rid of less critical posts. 'More generals and admirals does not equal more success,' Hegseth said in a video describing his plan. 'This is not a slash and burn exercise meant to punish high-ranking officers. Nothing could be further from the truth. This has been a deliberative process.' Calling it the 'Less Generals, More GIs' plan, he said the department will make 'prudent reductions.' How the cuts will hit the military services The Army, which is the largest service, is allowed to have a maximum of 219 high-ranking general officers and is expected to absorb a higher number of the cuts, while the Marine Corps will probably see little impact at the very top. There are only two Marine four-star generals, and the tiny Space Force also only has two. 'The Marine Corps, with our general officers, like our civilians and senior executives, is by far the leanest service," said Lt. Col. Josh Benson, a Marine spokesman. "Due to the already lean nature of the general officers in the Marine Corps, any cuts to Marine general officers will have an outsized impact to the Corps relative to other services.' He said nearly one-third — or 21 — of Marine generals hold two or three jobs each, and as many as 10 positions are already empty. Army leaders, meanwhile, have already developed plans to merge or close headquarters units and staff. As many as 40 general officer slots could be cut as a result, officials have said. The joint jobs would include leaders at regional commands, such as those in Europe, the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East, as well as administrative or functional commands, such as Cyber Command and Special Operations Command. Under the law, there currently can be no more than 232 of those joint officers, and they're spread across all the services. It's unclear how many of the cuts those jobs would absorb, versus the slots in each of the services. But officials have talked about merging some commands as the Pentagon reviews its overall leadership structure. In addition to the joint command jobs, Congress stipulates the maximum number of high-ranking general officers in the services: 219 in the Army, 171 in the Air Force, 21 in the Space Force, 64 in the Marine Corps and 150 flag officers in the Navy. All combined, the services can't have more than 27 four-star officers, 153 three stars, 239 two stars and 210 one stars. National Guard review and cuts The decrease in the National Guard stems from a review done by Guard leaders last year that identified more than 30 positions that could be cut among the 133 general officer jobs spread out across the government. There are about 30 general officers in the National Guard Bureau headquarters staff, and the rest are assigned to jobs in other federal agencies, including the FBI, CIA and the military commands. Guard officials described their plan to Hegseth and Pentagon leaders, and it was approved. According to officials, it would result in six jobs cut from Guard Bureau staff and the rest from other military and government posts. The adjutants general who run the Guard in each state are chosen by and work for the governors and so are not part of any cuts. They are largely one- and two- star officers.
Associated Press
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Hegseth's plan to cut senior military jobs could hit more than 120 high-ranking officers
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's plans to slash the number of senior military leaders across the services would cut more than 120 high-ranking officer jobs in the active duty and National Guard, including as many as nine top general slots. Based on the percentages outlined by Hegseth and his senior staff, 20% of the 44 authorized top active duty general and admiral jobs would be eliminated, along with 10% of the more than 800 one-, two- and three-star positions, according to numbers compiled by The Associated Press. The cuts — about nine positions among four-star generals and 80 jobs across the other leadership levels — would affect dozens of active duty officers scattered across the five services as well as those who are in joint command jobs, such as those overseeing Africa, the Middle East and Europe. The changes would eliminate 33 senior National Guard positions. The cuts are part of a broader government-wide campaign to slash spending and personnel across federal agencies that is being pushed by President Donald Trump's administration and ally Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. According to Hegseth and others, the intent of the military job reductions isn't to reduce the overall size of the force but to thin out the higher ranks and offset those cuts with additional troops at lower levels. While the overall number of service members may not drop, the salary costs will be lower. Some Democratic members of Congress have criticized Hegseth's plans as an attempt to politicize the military and oust leaders that don't agree with the Trump administration. The changes also come as the world is roiled by conflicts, including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and as the U.S. has troops deployed in Syria and elsewhere. Shifting leadership responsibilities Military officials expect that as various jobs are downgraded — for example from a lieutenant general in charge to a major general or brigadier general — more leadership responsibilities will fall on colonels or Navy captains and other subordinates. And while many of the job cuts will come through attrition, as senior officers retire or move on, the services say they will have the flexibility to move people into higher priority positions and get rid of less critical posts. 'More generals and admirals does not equal more success,' Hegseth said in a video describing his plan. 'This is not a slash and burn exercise meant to punish high-ranking officers. Nothing could be further from the truth. This has been a deliberative process.' Calling it the 'Less Generals, More GIs' plan, he said the department will make 'prudent reductions.' How the cuts will hit the military services The Army, which is the largest service, is allowed to have a maximum of 219 high-ranking general officers and is expected to absorb a higher number of the cuts, while the Marine Corps will probably see little impact at the very top. There are only two Marine four-star generals, and the tiny Space Force also only has two. 'The Marine Corps, with our general officers, like our civilians and senior executives, is by far the leanest service,' said Lt. Col. Josh Benson, a Marine spokesman. 'Due to the already lean nature of the general officers in the Marine Corps, any cuts to Marine general officers will have an outsized impact to the Corps relative to other services.' He said nearly one-third — or 21 — of Marine generals hold two or three jobs each, and as many as 10 positions are already empty. Army leaders, meanwhile, have already developed plans to merge or close headquarters units and staff. As many as 40 general officer slots could be cut as a result, officials have said. The joint jobs would include leaders at regional commands, such as those in Europe, the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East, as well as administrative or functional commands, such as Cyber Command and Special Operations Command. Under the law, there currently can be no more than 232 of those joint officers, and they're spread across all the services. It's unclear how many of the cuts those jobs would absorb, versus the slots in each of the services. But officials have talked about merging some commands as the Pentagon reviews its overall leadership structure. In addition to the joint command jobs, Congress stipulates the maximum number of high-ranking general officers in the services: 219 in the Army, 171 in the Air Force, 21 in the Space Force, 64 in the Marine Corps and 150 flag officers in the Navy. All combined, the services can't have more than 27 four-star officers, 153 three stars, 239 two stars and 210 one stars. National Guard review and cuts The decrease in the National Guard stems from a review done by Guard leaders last year that identified more than 30 positions that could be cut among the 133 general officer jobs spread out across the government. There are about 30 general officers in the National Guard Bureau headquarters staff, and the rest are assigned to jobs in other federal agencies, including the FBI, CIA and the military commands. Guard officials described their plan to Hegseth and Pentagon leaders, and it was approved. According to officials, it would result in six jobs cut from Guard Bureau staff and the rest from other military and government posts. The adjutants general who run the Guard in each state are chosen by and work for the governors and so are not part of any cuts. They are largely one- and two- star officers.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hegseth sparks fears as he moves to ax generals
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's move to ax the size of the U.S. military's top ranks has triggered concerns of a political purge. Hegseth, who on Monday directed significant cuts to the U.S. military's senior-most positions, has already fired several top leaders with no explanation. His latest plan could now eliminate roughly 100 generals and admirals, which he said was necessary to remove 'redundant force structure' and streamline Pentagon bureaucracy. But while it is true America's forces are brass-heavy — with 37 four-star generals and admirals and about 816 officers with one-star and above — experts worry any move to slash those numbers will be done indiscriminately and without care for the institutional knowledge at the top that could be lost. 'We're very concerned, especially with this administration, that this could easily turn into political testing or otherwise clearing out the ranks for political reasons,' said Greg Williams, the director of defense information at the nonprofit watchdog Project on Government Oversight. 'When a new administration comes in and makes a lot of changes, especially at the very top of the military ranks, especially for what are arguably very political reasons — are these officers 'woke or or not?' — that raises the concern that we're undermining that nonpartisan tradition,' he added. Hegseth's plan, announced via a short, one-page memo, calls for at least a 20 percent cut to the number of active-duty four-star generals and admirals, a reduction of generals in the National Guard by at least the same amount, and eliminating the total number of generals and admirals across the force by a minimum of 10 percent. The announcement was not surprising, given Hegseth has been outspoken about the topic. During his confirmation hearing in January, he told lawmakers that the U.S. helped win World War II with seven four-star generals while 'today we have 44 four-star generals.' 'There is an inverse relationship between the size of staffs and victory on the battlefield. We do not need more bureaucracy at the top. We need more warfighters empowered at the bottom,' he told lawmakers. Hegseth has since revised his argument via a video posted to social media announcing the memo, now noting that 17 four- and five-star generals oversaw 12 million troops during World War II. He compared that with the current force of about 2.1 million service members led by an intended 44 four-star generals and admirals. 'We're going to shift resources from bloated headquarters elements to our warfights,' Hegseth said in the video on social platform X. 'More generals and admirals does not mean more success.' It's not clear how fast the Pentagon plans to weed out the targeted positions, as neither Hegseth's memo nor his remarks identify a timeline for the ordered actions. He only said that the effort would be done 'expeditiously' and in two phases. The first would focus on cutting the number of active-duty four-star generals and admirals as well as the National Guard generals, followed by a second phase to eliminate the overall number of military officers with one star and above. When The Hill asked the Pentagon for details on the process and timeline to identify and carry out the cuts, the Defense official referred questions back to Hegseth's video but would not provide additional information. While there are 44 four-star general officer positions in the military, as set by law, the Pentagon currently has only 37 confirmed individuals after at least five were recently removed by the Trump administration. They include Gen. Timothy Haugh, the former head of U.S. Cyber Command; Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the previous chief of staff of the Navy; Linda Adm. Linda Fagan, the ousted commandant of the Coast Guard; Gen. Charles Hamilton, the former head of Army Materiel Command; and former Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Jim Slife. As for the number of one-star officers and above, there are 857 authorized by law but just 816 currently in the positions. The cuts come as the Pentagon, along with other federal agencies, face pressure to slash spending and personnel as part of a broader effort to shrink the civilian workforce, pushed by Trump and billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. Hegseth also has made no secret of his desire to purge the military of any so-called woke officers. In a podcast last June, he said he believes more than a third of military officers were 'actively complicit' in allowing diversity initiatives to undercut combat standards. 'We need in the future generals who will reverse them,' he told radio host Hugh Hewitt. There have been attempts to shrink the Pentagon's leadership structure in the past as amid a long-lasting argument about how many generals the military should have. In the past five decades, the number of generals and admirals has increased as a percentage of the total force, according to a study last year by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. But the current number is 'low for the post-Cold War era and substantially lower than the number of [general and flag officers] in the 1960s-1980s, when the Armed Forces were much larger in size than they are today,' the study notes. If the Pentagon has to reduce staff and general officers, four-star positions would be at the top of the list to cut given that it would mean reductions all the way down the line, according to Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel who is now a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. 'When you consolidate staffs you can eliminate a lot of other positions,' Cancian said. 'If a position goes from a four to a three-star, then everything below that goes down one level. The office that a four-star has is larger than the office a three-star will have. There's a shrinkage all the way down,' he added. 'It's not just replacing one person, there's a whole organization, a whole pyramid that changes.' But he pointed out that Hegseth's argument that there is bloat at the top of the military compared to the past doesn't hold up when you look at the costs. 'If you look at the dollars that generals oversee, that has not changed from WWII to today,' he said. 'Generals command fewer people but forces are much more capital intensive, the operations are much more intensive, and there's more civilians too. You put all that together, there is no bloat, it's about the same.' Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Jack Reed (D-R.I.) has been the most pointed in his questioning of Hegseth's reasoning for the cuts, warning that removing senior officers without 'sound justification' could hamper the military. 'I have always advocated for efficiency at the Department of Defense, but tough personnel decisions should be based on facts and analysis, not arbitrary percentages,' Reed said in a statement Monday. 'Secretary Hegseth has shown an eagerness to dismiss military leaders without cause, and I will be skeptical of the rationale for these plans until he explains them before the Armed Services Committee,' he added. And House Armed Services Committee member Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a former Marine, said Hegseth is 'creating a formal framework to fire all the generals who disagree with him and the president,' The Associated Press reported. 'He wrote a book about it. He wants to politicize the military,' Moulton added. 'So it's hard to see these cuts in any other context.' Lawmakers can potentially upend Hegseth's plans as the number of general officer positions in the military is set by law and would need to be changed by Congress. Senate and House members could also insert language into the annual defense authorization budget to stop the administration from cutting specific positions. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
