{"id":13228,"date":"2018-11-21T00:52:48","date_gmt":"2018-11-21T00:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/11\/21\/border-deployment-price-tag-to-date-72-million-pentagon-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:25:07","slug":"border-deployment-price-tag-to-date-72-million-pentagon-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/11\/21\/border-deployment-price-tag-to-date-72-million-pentagon-says\/","title":{"rendered":"It has cost $72 million so far to deploy active-duty troops to the border, Pentagon says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After weeks of questions about the cost of the U.S. deployment of forces to the border, the Pentagon revealed late Tuesday that the barbed wire, transportation and housing for about 5,900 active-duty<\/a> troops to date has cost $72 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To put it another way, that\u2019s .01 percent of the Pentagon\u2019s more than $700 billion budget<\/a>, and roughly the price tag for one F\/A-18E Super Hornet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For critics,<\/a> the $72 million represents an unnecessary expense for the military, which despite its higher 2019 defense budget, is still on an upward climb to heal readiness shortfalls and position itself for future wars. For others, the $72 million is a drop in the bucket <\/a>compared with the daily operations costs for forces deployed in operations overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\t