[Jean S]

$206,700

Ooh, that's HUGE. And no, I didn't leave and zeros out in this post.

Sheesh.

[Robert_Paulson2]

"The brothel payments were disguised as restaurant and dining bar charges. "

Is that like when a guy takes a woman out for dinner and drinks, and hopes he will get "lucky"?

That kind of "brothel" payment has been going on for a long time...

[Channel_Islands_EANx_Diver]

Those lucky saps..
Credit Cards!!

Next they'll put broads on Destroyers and Submarines.

[A CA Guy]

Throw them in jail and lose the key for 6 months to a year.

[DaBroasta]

Given that these folks know they will be caught and made examples out of, one can only assume that the violators come from disfunctional democrat households where they were taught that they're not responsible for their actions or else they're victims of publik skools and don't understand the wording on the paper they sign when they get one of these cards.

[lelio]

After the Pentagon began docking the pay of soldiers and defense workers with unpaid credit card debts last year, the average bad debt write-off dropped from $1.7 million a month to $300,000 a month.
I'm confused as to what's the difference between the $207k for personal activity and the $300k+ a month in write offs. Is the monthly number for non-personal, military expenses, that weren't really needed? Like a party for your unit, etc.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Those who abused the cards have had money involuntarily deducted from their paychecks.

That isn't good enough!!! In order to get a card, you have to read and sign the agreement that says "For Official Business Only". (Even if the forms weren't read and signed correctly, you implicitly agree by using the card.)

The way I see it, the sailors who used the card for fraudulent purchases are guilty of Dereliction of Duty under the UCMJ and should face those charges. For that matter, the financial folks on the bases and ships who didn't catch the abuses before the audit should also face Dereliction of Duty charges.

[jlogajan]

Talk about getting bang for your buck.

[Junior]

"The Navy's practice of authorizing a travel card to be issued to virtually anyone who asked for it ..."

Asked for it? The Naval Reserve requires the use of credit cards for travel and active-duty assignments. Cash advancements are no longer issued.

[dogbyte12]

the worst part is the interest rates. $200 an hour hooker visits may seem like fun, but when you realize that with monthly payments you end up paying closer to $300, that is what really gets the Navy mad.

[Savage Beast]

I would much rather my hard earned money be spent on brothel services for sailors than on entitlement programs and other programs designed to elect corrupt Democrat politicians.

[Criminal Number 18F]

Thereare two separate issues here, which the promoters of this study are combining.

1. The financial dimension. That is, people are not paying their card bill and sticking DOD with it, supposedly, and;
2. The moral dimension. Some people are using the cards for things that the Powers That Be consider immoral.

If it's OK for Sailor Sam to draw a cash advance on his card (presuming he pays it back) it should be a matter of official indifference if he draws it in the ATM in the lobby of a church (not that I have ever seen such a thing, but then I've been out of Catholicism for a while) or if he draws it in a cathouse. To whoever wrote this, that's not the case.

The other side of the coin, that GAO is not disposed to investigate, is the crookedness of the DOD card system, which grew and which became mandatory to use for official travel during the Clinton administration.

The principal causes of delinquencies are two: the DOD is very slow to reimburse travel expences, and some guys, mostly junior guys, are simply too dumb to understand that they can't charge forever without paying.

The delays in paying the troops for their travel vouchers, which are routine, are simply a way to get the troops to loan part of their pay back to DOD interest free, and to bear personal responsibility for any resulting delinquencies.

Example: one of our guys, Joe, attended a school where he was required to stay in a hotel. A specific hotel (probably another FOB kickback in there). Joe was there three plus months. All on the GI credit card. It took three more months for the clerks who make up 95% of the Army to get around to cutting Joe a check (actually direct-depositing some $9,000 in overdue travel pay), by which time his hiney was in Afghanistan. Meantime he did not have the spare cash to pay the bill (since he had been dragged out of his profitable civilian job, activated, and put to work for some $5,000 less a month than he made before). His wife and kid are stressed out, and his credit now is ruined.

But hey, the way DOD manages this helps buy the clerks typewriter ribbons.

The reason the use of the card is mandatory is that it is affiliated with some "connected" bank corp (paging Mr Rubin?) and the bank profits hugely by the use of the card, and kicks back a portion of its profit to DOD. The last thing DOD wants is PO3 Smith or SGT Jones charging his lap dance (can you do such a thing?) on his private card and then getting the cash back or frequent flyer miles himself.

The reason the GAO is doing this investigation is because the high delinquency rate is making the bank and the DOD leave money on the table -- for every dollar they can screw out of a senior guy (at the cost of his credit) they are losing one to young folks' fiscal irresponsibility. So the bank uses its connexions to scream, "do something," and the Congress reacts and sends its GAO scurrying.

The troops are good, but there's a bucket of corrupt leadership in the Pentagon.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Deb]

The only reason sailors haven't charged hookers before was...we didn't give 'em credit cards.

Whose idea was that?