In another thread people were discussing the draft. I wish it was 100% mandatory so that people understood what we were spending money on.
During my time in the service I have seen jaw dropping examples of waste. Things that boggled my mind. While my commarades back at home station were running low on funds to buy printer paper and toner, we in the "war zone" were spending money on the most amazing BS you could imagine. When those of us in the Capt and Maj ranks said "this is a waste" we were reminded that if we don't spend it we will lose it in next year's budget. Such high level thinking gave us a million dollar five bay car wash in the middle of the desert (when we already had a one bay car wash that had no lines).
When I got home, and we were out of the Iraq war (which prompted our fight against IEDs) I noticed we were still spending billions on JIEDDO (Joint Improvised Explosive Detection and Destruction Organization). This entity alone had a budget that dwarfed some states budgets. But because it had been given funding over time, it was gauranteed funding in each succesive budget. Nevermind that the organization no longer had a mission, it still got funding increases each year.
BS like this is everywhere in the system (lets not talk about the F-35 and F-22 programs, which take military spending waste to levels only contemplated by Star Trek fans). Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines find themselves making due without necessary items on the job, while billions are pissed away by worthless DoD organizations.
Yet, any time we talk about defense cuts the GOP has a coniption fit. If people had spent time in the military they would understand the way money is wasted.
During my time in the service I have seen jaw dropping examples of waste. Things that boggled my mind. While my commarades back at home station were running low on funds to buy printer paper and toner, we in the "war zone" were spending money on the most amazing BS you could imagine. When those of us in the Capt and Maj ranks said "this is a waste" we were reminded that if we don't spend it we will lose it in next year's budget. Such high level thinking gave us a million dollar five bay car wash in the middle of the desert (when we already had a one bay car wash that had no lines).
When I got home, and we were out of the Iraq war (which prompted our fight against IEDs) I noticed we were still spending billions on JIEDDO (Joint Improvised Explosive Detection and Destruction Organization). This entity alone had a budget that dwarfed some states budgets. But because it had been given funding over time, it was gauranteed funding in each succesive budget. Nevermind that the organization no longer had a mission, it still got funding increases each year.
BS like this is everywhere in the system (lets not talk about the F-35 and F-22 programs, which take military spending waste to levels only contemplated by Star Trek fans). Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines find themselves making due without necessary items on the job, while billions are pissed away by worthless DoD organizations.
Yet, any time we talk about defense cuts the GOP has a coniption fit. If people had spent time in the military they would understand the way money is wasted.