Can anyone with a career military background comment?
I don’t have a military background, but I am sure this is just the tip of the iceberg. Ike was right. The military is incredibly important, but the waste, fraud and abuse is also huge. The worst of all is when weapons manufacturers press for more military action. But the theft from taxpayers also ends up stealing freedom and costing lives.
How many Americans who can’t afford their healthcare costs under Obamacare and high taxes don’t get the care they need until something treatable has gone too long?
> Can anyone with a career military background comment?
A lot of it probably is reallocated for the dark spy programs, so it’s off the books.
Then again, Obama spending $5 million of Pentagon money for trips to Hawaii doesn’t help either.
Drive around northern Virginia and see how many big shiny new office buildings have gone up since 2001.
Fairview Park in Falls Church is a great example
Hiding waste is universal, why do we need military people commenting? Activities such as this go on all over the country. For example, ever notice how many schools and colleges “purge” perfectly good and usable equipment as their physical year end approaches? In order to maintain their budget levels, new and better equipment “need” replacing so the budget levels remain high. Tell me again about no waste in our schools and colleges. This is typical in numerous “public” organizations because its someone elses money.
Hiding waste is universal, why do we need military people commenting? Activities such as this go on all over the country. For example, ever notice how many schools and colleges “purge” perfectly good and usable equipment as their physical year end approaches? In order to maintain their budget levels, new and better equipment “need” replacing so the budget levels remain high. Tell me again about no waste in our schools and colleges. This is typical in numerous “public” organizations because its someone elses money.
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.
Just look at the number of General and Flag officers in the military, relative to the total personnel. That will give you an idea just how bloated the US military is.
I’ll give you an example...in the 2011 period, I worked as a civilian for a military group. I was in effect the purchaser. So, the group had a lot of worn out office chairs and based on comments by everyone....we prioritized our funding and went to do research to buy some decent chairs.
My pick...some ergonomic chair with a 12-year guarantee...delivered to the building. The price was listed in the GSA catalog and was probably 10 to 15 percent below the normal price. So I needed roughly 225 chairs.
I did all the paperwork (roughly 12 pages)...demonstrated the research, and how it met all the requirements. Then the authority over pulled out this stupid rule....I had to buy via a minority or women-owned company. I was able to buy about fifty-percent of my preferred chairs at the GSA rate. The other fifty percent was 25-percent higher (note HIGHER) than what GSA was going to charge. It was a totally different brand...different look...etc.
I sat for two hours looking at this mess and arguing with the folks about this rule. I had to go and find somewhere in our budget...more cash to pay for the extra cost.
Then I looked at this woman-owned company. It’s an odd thing. It’s an address of a farm in central Pennsylvania next to a corn-field. Yeah....just a farm house.
What this gal had done was form her own one-person company. She got certified as a federal approved site. She represented a Canadian chair company. She paid some guy for a listing of contracts coming up in the DC area....giving him a cut of the profit. Because I’m forced (like so many) then the odds are that she will make over $50,000 a year in profit easily. The system is rigged. I spent more money than I should have, for the product.
How much is wasted by the Pentagon in the DC area each year like this? I’d bet on $300 million easily. Chairs, renovation, presentation units, computers, teleconference equipment, etc. That only covers the DC area alone. So then go global and look at the various services who are forced to play the same game.
But then you go and look at Homeland Security, National Parks, etc....they do the same thing. You could cut 10-percent off the national budget very easily by eliminating stupid rules like this.
In a former life, I was an instructor and course developer for a U.S. Military school. I was frequently pressured to give contractors course development work to do, for which the contractor had no contract. At the same time, the Civil Service employees did not have sufficient work to fill their shift. After telling my supervisor that I thought that was illegal and I would not go to jail for him, my work assignments were drastically altered and over my last year prior to retirement, I had no work. Damned right there is bloat, fraud waste and abuse in the Pentagon system.
My team at the FDIC had to have set a record, when we had two contractors voluntarily withdraw from their contracts, because we were too tough on them, i.e. we followed the contracts to the letter.
The whole end of year rush to spend everything in the budget is wasteful. So much crap is bought just because someone put the paperwork in even though it was on the fantasy wish list, not the needs list. I’ve seen plenty of things that were bought one year and then bought again at end of year the next because someone forgot to update the list.
The problem is if you budget for contingencies and don’t spend it, they won’t budget for it next year. Then if something happens the following year, you have to choose which item you really needed has to be cut.
The whole incentive is to amass and spend the budget. The incentives to save are miniscule, and usually the reward for saving is wish list morale spending, cancelling out a significant part of the benefit.
Bottom line - incentives need to be changed somehow.