(VOVworld) – US military commanders warned on Thursday that deep cuts to military spending would leave American forces ill-prepared for combat and vulnerable to higher casualties. The cuts are due to a 1,000-billion-USD reduction of the Pentagon’s budget.

US army soldiers patrol as they conduct an ambush drill as part of the Filipino-US joint military exercises inside a Philippine army camp in Manila. (Photo: Reuters)

In a stern address to the Senate Armed Services Committee, the chiefs of all the armed services warned against a round of automatic budget cuts next year.

According to General James Amos, Commandant of the US Marine Corps, the US would have fewer forces, arriving later to the fight.

The US Army's Chief-of-Staff, General Ray Odierno, also warned that the dramatic budget cuts would mean putting troops into combat without enough training, raising the danger of more soldiers dying on the battlefield. He added that US forces’ combat readiness is at the lowest level in 37 years with only 2 brigades getting enough training for war.

Admiral Jonathan Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations, was quoted as saying that the tightened budget would just be enough to enable 2 aircraft carriers to remain in operation in the Gulf and the West of the Pacific Ocean.