Bill Tiernan / AP

Members of the military leave after a United States Joint Forces Command Disestablishment Ceremony held on the parking lot of JFCOM in Suffolk,Va. The Defense Department formally disbanded one of its military headquarters on Thursday in an effort to eliminate bureaucracy and cut costs. U.S. Joint Forces Command was responsible for training troops from all services to work together for specific missions and had a $1 billion budget. The command had employed about 5,700 military and civilian personnel in Virginia, Nevada and Florida, with the bulk of those working at its headquarters in southeast Virginia.

U.S. Joint Forces Command headquarters closed after Disestablishment Ceremony

If you wonder what the debt crisis and smaller government look like, think about this image. AP photographer Bill Tiernan made this haunting image of soldiers going their separate ways after a major military command headquarters was shuttered.

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