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$20,000,000,000 for Imperial Air Taxi Fleet

US Navy pushed through a contract for new presidential helicopter fleet at a cost of $20,000,000,000.

Damn!

What does that buy now days.

Well for starters, how about 1000 A-10 Warthogs, which cost a bit less than $20,000,000 each. That's 2014 dealer price with the latest upgrades. But the US Air Force wants to kill the A-10's, the best damn close air support for ground troops on the planet.

Flight of five A-10's - current cost $100,000,000

It's long past time to pull the plug on the imperial trappings of the presidency. And especially the helicopter taxi fleet. Used primarily for golf outings, shuttle service to Camp David and Andrews AFB for AF One flights, and to nearby fund raisers. Little known is that senior WH staff also use the helos. I'm in one of the flight paths of the Camp David trips and I see them frequently when the president is not even in town.

Time to provide exactly the same aircraft that the troops use adding only the special comms. No luxurious seats, no bar or food service, just plain vanilla. A memento mori every time the president flies. Same risks as the ordinary grunt.

Doesn't matter which man or woman fills the job it's a temporary position and that needs to be made obvious to the employee every damn day.

Me, I opt for 1000 more A-10's before this Marie Anoinette expenditure.

P.S. Submit to the president the monthly bill, like a car loan payment, the total cost, acquisition and operating costs and make them sign for it to authorize payment. And maybe a taxi meter with big bold flashing numbers showing trip cost.

I'd love for us to keep the A-10s and even buy a few hundred new ones. Beautiful plane, in terms of grace, efficiency, and outright nimble flight--at least the ones I observed in NV when I worked down there were.

No, they are not the sleek, sharklike forms of an F-16, but the guys flying those could practically dance in the sky with them. That said, I wouldn't want to be the target...

But, unfortunately, the more we treat our servants like royalty, the less they are in touch with the ordinary American, not to mention those in our country's armed forces, and sooner or later, they begin to believe they are royalty. While I would want them to comport themselves with the grace and dignity becoming any head of State, they should be able to drive themselves to Andrews in a mid-size car when there is no one around to impress.