Reuters reports that “the top U.S. military officers said on Thursday that across-the-board cuts in defense spending have seriously eroded American forces’ preparedness for war, and another round of reductions in the coming months will wreak even more havoc.”

“To quickly achieve the abrupt cuts that went into force in March, U.S. military chiefs slashed big-unit training for soldiers, curbed flying time for pilots and canceled regularly scheduled maintenance for ships. A similar round of reductions in January would lead to more of the same.”