thing to take away the commissaries. that's a benefit that a lot of soldiers and family members utilize. >> i don't like it but i understand choices have to be made. so if it's this or cutting retirement paychecks, things like that, i think this is probably one of the least bad options. >> reporter: also on the chopping block, ending a $7.8 million subsidy for stars and stripes, the newspaper for the troops, first published during the american civil war and read by those in uniform ever since. the cuts would eliminate american forces radio and television service and its $51.6 million and the pentagon channel, which costs $6.1 million. a drop in the bucket, some argue, when you consider the $4 billion the pentagon has budgeted to assist the afghan military next year. congress would need to sign off on the cuts, but budget hawks say that in the era of costco and sam's club, military commissaries may be a subsidy for service members' families