Joe Dunford, Joint Chiefs head, to cut Pentagon personnel costs - POLITICO: Joe Dunford may enjoy the trappings of a four-star general with his own plane and coterie of aides. But President Barack Obama’s nominee to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sometimes walks down to the Pentagon’s A-Ring by himself to get a sandwich — a common touch those who know him say he has maintained with the troops throughout his four-decade Marine Corps career.
It is a bond with the rank and file that will be sorely tested if the 59-year-old Dunford is confirmed by the Senate to be the nation’s top military officer: The Obama administration is counting on Dunford to take the lead in pushing a series of proposals designed to shrink the pay and benefits of troops as the Pentagon wrestles with the need to rein in its personnel costs.
