I retired from the military in 2013 after 26 years. I believe this article enforces the opinion many have of “if we don’t spend all our money we won’t get as much next year.”
I’ve been in units that buy the most ridiculous crap when me and another NCO were scavenging for spent casings and clips to piece together a belt of “practice ammo” to teach Soldiers how to load and unload crew served weapons. While at the same time the CO’s secretary gets a complete new set of office furniture.
Well said. And “if we don’t spend all our money we won’t get as much next year.” is why the CO’s secretary got the new furniture at the end of the year, because the CO, to ensure he didn’t run out of money before the year ended, scrimped on spending training funds. I well remember when in the final quarter of the year, there was no money to buy toilet paper and cleaning supplies for the barracks....and then in the last 2 weeks money suddenly showed up with “spend this quickly so we don’t lose it in next year’s budget.”