On 8/26/2011 12:49 PM, Robert Green wrote:
wrote in message
...
On 8/14/2011 11:03 AM, Han wrote:
(snip)
BS. If you want another Depression with 20+ % unemployment, do go and
cut everything but the pentagon and Congress's expenses.



Pentagon could probably take a 1/3 budget cut with no loss in mission
capability, if they would just get their act together, and cut out all
the duplication and internecine turf warfare. Hell, having one supply
system instead of five, and one set of rulebooks and procedures instead
of five, would probably save billions. They don't even have a DoD-wide
email system, and every service is spending millions to 'develop' their
own. But the Joint Chiefs and Congress prefer the status quo, because it
is a lot of flag billets and jobs and contracts for donors to keep all
those redundant structures in place. Every five years or so, yet
another commission does a study and says the same thing, but it never
changes, I'd love to see a POTUS with the guts to start issuing orders
to 'just do it already', and when Congress gets ****y, go on national TV
and explain it all to the public.

You'll be happy to know that after years and years of infighting we're
finally developing joint strike forces that are actually cooperating in more
than name only. The "stovepipes" of the various services are still very
much standing alone and I can't imagine what POTUS (or force of nature)
would be able to break down the longstanding walls between the Army, Navy
(USMC, too) and the Air Force.

Old timers will argue the dividing lines are necessary to morale and
tradition, but the roles of warfighters now have merged greatly. The Navy
has its own air force, etc. Keeping them all separate has turned into a
giant public works project for 1,000's of flag officiers, DASD's and their
entourages. I was part of a team trying to bring "jointdom" to the
Professional Military Education system (PME). The best we could hope for in
reality is that the Naval War College would take students from the other
services and vice-versa.

The big problems? If you're a Marine serving in a joint billet and you're
rated by an Air Force colonel, it's considered a black mark on your OER and
a meaningless evaluation because it wasn't done to USMC standards. That
kind of attitude presents a very tall wall to climb to achieve true "joint
mission" capability.

--
Bobby G.



You're mainly talking operational side, other than maybe one rulebook
for performance evaluations for everyone. I was talking the frigging
housekeeping and support services side, most of which is done by
civilians and contractors these days.

Yes, if I was benign dictator, I'd merge all the military services
together and be done with it. Let them have their separate uniforms if
the want, but one C&C structure, and a combined back office. But I know
it'll never happen in my lifetime.

At work, I work with a lot of ex-military. The old timers that actually
did 20 or whatever, are mostly okay, and behave in a professional
manner, and listen to what I have to say. The relative (to me) kids that
did a hitch or two, mostly give me nothing but attitude, and their stock
answer to anything is 'Were you in the service? No? Then you don't know
anything, so shut up.' I've got boots older than a lot of these kids,
and have worked with all the services for 30+ years. I KNOW how
fubar'd the back end of the services are. Not saying they don't all mean
well, mind you, but the US military has turned into such a freaking
bureaucracy that can't find their ass with both hands, that I would
never (absent clear and present danger to US that required a lot of
bodies) encourage a kid to sign up. The PTB simply can't be trusted.

--
aem sends...