Our so called government spends way too much in ALL areas. Agreed, national security is the first priority, however throwing money at the DoD doesn't guarantee the nation's safety. I am as pro military as most patriots,but just as many of them, I don't condone waste fraud, abuse, or make work spending.
The military needs to get leaner and utilize what they have much more effectively. As a for instance. The Air Force will schedule a repair on a fighter, the repair manual will call for "spare parts kit xyz" be used; when the mechanic begins the work, if he sees only one part of the repair kit is needed, he uses it and trashes the rest of the kit, instead of sending it back to the supply unit for repacking. The philosophy is, ...in order to ensure kit integrity, it is better to 86 a partial kit, instead of relying on a supply clerk to reliably replace the correct part to "xyz kit". If nothing else these partial kits could be sent back to the manufacture for recertification. Some of these aircraft parts kits cost thousands of dollars,imagine an AF Wing of airplanes (72) all getting a 100 hour check, and all of the various repair kits not being full utilized, now we're talking millions in waste, on just this one unit, then consider the entire Air Force.
The military is too quick to declare items surplus, and sell equipment and other assets off for pennies on the dollar. Go through any Army Navy store and see for yourself. Autos, machinery, you name it, if it gets a scratch or is a couple years old, out it goes.
Theft is another big cost. Too many in the military think nothing of liberating government property for their permanent home use or to sell on the strees. When I was a teenager,I had a neighbor who was a lifer AF electronics supply sgt, and he had AF metal shelving in his garage, paint, tools, parts all kinds of stuff. He told how the gate guards were supposed to inspect vehicles exiting the base for such pilferage, but only did it when the Base Commander was on the war path. If you've ever been on a post or a base, observe when you exit if a guard stops any cars or trucks to verify they aren't carrying off a B1 bomber or a nuclear submarine..
The pentagon employees around 250,000 civilian administrative personnel, to assist with pay, purchasing, etc. The installations have another set of civilian employees to run the commissary, the nco club, the pool, the theater, the gym, the PX, the stop n go, etc. Nobody in uniform cuts grass anymore either, unless it is punishment. A lawn service company does it for them.
When our troopers are deployed in the 'stan, a contract worker is there serving spaghetti at $100 per hour in the dining facility. Make that teams of contract workers. What ever happened to having a mess private ladle out the chow?
Yes the debt deal hardly cuts spending, and what cuts they will make, the DoD is screaming will come almost half from them. Now that's $850 Billion over 10 years. $85 Billion per year. Just by trimming the fat, alone should pare out the $85 Big Ones. Weapons programs really shouldn't be affected- but they will- because the Generals won't get control of the money leak.
Speaking of weapons, defense contractors are raping the nation, but the soon to be retired PEO's program executive officers,( military reps) keep signing off on cost over runs, because they have a civilian defense job waiting for them with the contractor. Heaps of waste there, and fraud.
Unless the Right Wing shows it is serious in cutting spending without exempting Defense, we will never get a handle on entitlements, cancel redundant programs, or reform social security. Cutting for the sake of cutting isn't wise either, when waste abounds.
We are all skeptical on the debt deal to one degree or another, and barring a $1.5 trillion annual spending cut which Rand Paul was unrealistically advocating, we are going to have to see how this deal plays out. November 2011 isn't that far off.
As far as the 12 member "super congress " being unconstitutional, if Congress writes a bill and passes it, how it delegates a special oversight committee to handle a budgetary process is quite legal. Congress has the authority to tax and to spend.
Some of this anti constitution rhetoric is residual knee jerk reaction from past truly unconstitutional acts of the 111th and 112th. ie the usurper, Libya, ObamaCare....., but the debt deal IMO doesn't fall in that category. It's a weak first step, towards fixing the debt situation, but at least it's a step. The next battle will be slicing up the 2012 budget which is due October 1, 2011. That's where some more cuts can come from, and that's where the Dems will be looking to add taxes. More hate speech is fore casted with nothing meaningful done until Obama is removed or voted out in 2012. Then we will have to be ALL over the Republicans, to not screw us to the wall again.
Steve
Thursday, August 4, 2011
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An election for President and Commander in Chief of the Military must strive to be above reproach. Our public institutions must give the public confidence that a presidential candidate has complied with the election process that is prescribed by our Constitution and laws. It is only after a presidential candidate satisfies the rules of such a process that he/she can expect members of the public, regardless of their party affiliations, to give him/her the respect that the Office of President so much deserves.
I spent a lifetime in the aerospace and defense industry. You've all heard of the $1,000 hammer or toilet seat and other inflammatory stories. Yes, the military may have been charged $1k but "here's the rest of the story." When a contract is awarded for a quantity of items, be they fighters, weapons or machinery et al - a spares contract is also negotiated and let. In too many cases the military will underestimate the requirement and order an insufficient quantity. At some later stage when the spares pipeline is almost dry, they will request the original contractor to produce a much smaller quantity to replenish the bare cupboard. In a majority of cases price is dependent on production quantity. When the contractor quotes a much higher unit price for a much smaller quantity the howls of indignation and the smear publicity campaign are heard and seen far and wide. Often too, the original tooling has been scrapped at contract completion. Naturally, the public hears only one side of the story and their contempt for the contractor knows no bounds. There are times when the military contract administration is not entirely at fault. When a later administration declines to order the follow-on fighter model or new design which had been planned, and the older version must be kept in service for several more years a new order for spares in limited quantities will be required. Same problem - smaller quantities, but higher price. When the contract administration over orders spare parts they usually sell the surplus to private suppliers for nickels and dimes. The spare parts supplier may have those parts on a shelf for some considerable time but the big payoff usually arrives. When a part is required in an emergency it sells for a fortune. There's much more to this intriguing subject - and yes, I could write a book.
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