Posted on 06/21/2014 10:53:37 AM PDT by Kaslin
Once again, Barack Obama is showing his lack of serious concern for the military.
Instead of court martialing Bowe Bergdahl, who presumably went AWOL in Afghanistan, Obama traded five high-level Taliban terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, for his release.
The President used military pay and pensions as a political football during recent budget debates. Thanks to Obama's opposition to reform, the Veterans Administration is overwhelmed with an endless backup of paperwork to process --while veterans die on secret waiting lists at government run hospitals.
Time and again, regardless of what the American people want, Obama stays true to his leftist ideology.
One issue less publicized -- but of great importance to our men and women in uniform -- involves the shipment of service members’ vehicles throughout the world. For many servicemen and women, stationed in a distant state or a country like Germany or Italy, shipping their car or truck allows them to save money and take care of their families on a limited income. This is a service that America should be providing to our brave service members.
To perform this important job, the Obama Pentagon awarded a contract to International Auto Logistics (IAL). It is a company that was set up in 2012 for the sole purpose of bidding on the contract (IAL didn't even have an office headquarters when they won it!).
Just two months into the contract, there are already complaints of malfunctioning systems and outright incompetence creating needless hurdles for our enlisted men and women. With reports of full voicemail boxes at some IAL locations and non-working phone lines at others, IAL is almost impossible to reach. Wait times at some of IAL’s drop off locations takes more than five hours.
Of the over 6,300 cars accepted for shipment by IAL since May, fewer than 2,300 have gone anywhere. Since IAL hasn't set up enough storage space to properly secure these 4,000 vehicles, many are just sitting in unsecured locations like hotel parking lots and vacant fields. Over 1,300 of these vehicles are waiting shipment at a single port in Europe, with no telling when they will be sent to their final destination.
Just like at the VA, IAL is largely reliant on paper files. This creates disorganization and is preventing service members from knowing when and where their vehicles are being sent. If they’re among the lucky few whose cars are actually in transit, tracking them is impossible. Cars have turned up in Hawaii, which were supposed to be shipped to Guam and Korea. One service member cancelled his family vacation when his car turned up in Los Angeles instead of Seattle. Another has been trying for weeks to find the car he dropped off in Alaska in May.
This company has become a nightmare: they are cutting corners and losing cars, and our troops and their families are suffering.
In a bizarre twist, the chairman of IAL’s corporate parent IAP Group, Park Sang-Kwon, is also the CEO of a car company with production facilities in North Korea. Not only is he an informal spokesman for Kim Jong-Un, but here he is with the North Korean leader on "Victory Day" and is honorary citizen of the DPRK. Is the Obama Administration aware of this information, which is easily accessible on Google? Republican Senator David Vitter of Louisiana has already asked the Pentagon to look into IAL, and it is time for more conservatives to support that effort.
It is becoming clear that this contract needs to be stopped and the bidding process should be reevaluated. Our brave enlisted members are willing to put their lives on the line and ask very little in return. During their transitions in the service, not losing their cars and trucks seems like the least we can do.
Isn’t there anything this jerk can do right? I wonder if can lace his shoelaces up in the morning or does he need buttons?
Maybe it’s intentional?
http://aaenemies.blogspot.com/2012/11/valerie-jarretts-father-in-law-linked.html
http://thespeechatimeforchoosing.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/vernon-jarrett-article.jpg
I’ll bet if the service members unionize, collect dues and start sending large cash contributions to the DNC their problems will be solved immediately.
Brings up a variance of an old expression...’Obama-rigged”!
An Obama bundler possibly?
Sounds like payback.
I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore.
You mean you bet if service members were able to unionize, don’t you?
Is this a new program? I never heard of this. So they need EBT but they can get a car shipped across the globe? How is this sensible?
I was in Germany when we had way more troops there and this process worked better then so I’m wondering why that contractor was not selected to continue, based on performance.
This guy can’t even tie his loafers.
Shipping cars because of transfer has been around for years and years. It’s not available for all hands however. Unless things changed, one car only, couldn’t be over 10 years old, member must be E-5 or above, etc. etc.
Once my car was shipped from Italy to Hawaii. It arrived three months later than expected. It was about a foot shorter on both ends, and all 4 steel belted tires were flat, due to the chains that held the car in place and rubbed holes in the sidewalls. If I remember correctly I received less than $1000.00 for it’s repair!
“”Cars have turned up in Hawaii, which were supposed to be shipped to Guam and Korea. One service member cancelled his family vacation when his car turned up in Los Angeles instead of Seattle.””
Hey everyone, that’s close enough for government work...
I sure hope your comment was a “Sarc”. When a service member is transferred to a new duty station, (overseas or stateside), the government is obligated to move all of their household effects, (up to a weight limit), and also her/his means of transportation. This is at no cost to the service member, (by the way, all federal employees have the same program for change of duty station/transfers).
Do you expect the service member to sell all of his furniture, belongings in order to comply with a government order for him/her to move to another location? How about the loss s/he will take on a car that s/he must sell, (based on your apparent belief that the government should not pay to ship her/his vehicle to her/his new duty station), when the vehicle would need to be sold in a very short time frame? And if the vehicle was recently purchased new, the loss of value would be very high, if s/he could even sell it because it would mean selling it at less than the amount owed on the vehicle.
You are definately off base on this one. You seem to expect the service member to risk life and limb and then also pay for the cost of moving her/his belongings to a new duty stationed that s/he has no control over where s/he will be sent.
Mmmm. hmmm...
Jesus Christ: You can’t impeach Him and He ain’t going to resign.
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