U.S. Airforce Wants 'Luxury Rooms in Planes' For Top Officials
rawstory.com
 The US Air Force sought money from counter-terrorism funds to install luxurious rooms on military aircraft for travelling top brass and
officials, the Washington Post reported Friday.
Several senior generals weighed in on design details of the "comfort capsules," which include leather chairs, a 37-inch (94 centimetre) flat screen
monitor, a bed, table, couch and full-length mirror, the Post wrote, citing budget documents and government e-mails.
(visit the link for the full news article)
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LOL, hey why not? Since we're ALREADY being extorted by the gov and M.I.C., month after month, year after year to keep this debacle funded with our
taxpayer dollars, why not have them sitting in the lap of luxury? And yet the "small guys" on the ground can't get bullet-proof vests and armor for
their vehicles? Awesome set of priorities there fellas. As long as you have your plasma TV at our expense though, who cares! Our money has to go to
something good, right? Even though we're all broke now. lol
The plan has angered lower-ranking Air Force officers and lawmakers' aides who say the project is a waste of money and inappropriate in a time
of war.
The Air Force over the past three years has requested 16.2 million dollars to be diverted from the "war on terror" to fund the project, according to
the article.
(visit the link for the full news article)
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Ok, so as an Ex-Navy Airdale, I need to clear something up about the airforce.
Their barracks for the enlisted ARE LUXURY compared to the barracks of Navy Sailors.
Why is that? Well I asked this very same question when I stayed on base at McGuire AFB back in 1993. It was like staying in a hotel with maid
service and everything, and I was just an E3 at the time!
The reason is as follows, and I'm sure it extends to the top brass even more than the lowly enlisted as I was at the time.
When the Navy builds an Air Base, they get a budget and then they build the airfield first. They then build the barracks with whatever money they
have left over. The can't ask for more because the missions is already accomplished (i.e. the airfield has been built)
When the Air Force builds an airbase, they build the barracks first! Then, they build the airfield and if they go over budget they can easily request
more funds because the goal of building an airfield has yet to be reached.
As an enlisted member of the armed forces, I thought this to be ingenious and wonderful. As a taxpayer, maybe not so much.
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OK, as an ex-Air Force 'zoomie'; I would like to add:
In my experience (up to the early 90's,) there is no denying that Air Force barracks are top-notch. In my line of work I spent time living with all
services (Army, Navy, Marines, et. al.)
Army takes the prize for low-class accommodations. The Marines are a spartan lot, and the Navy makes that easy for them. I never thought Navy
accommodations were all that bad.
I don't know if Quazga's assertion regarding the 'construction strategy' is accurate. I wasn't in that field and spent zero time asking about
such matters. It seems fiscally disingenuous and I would suspect someone would get in a lot of trouble for that kind of procurement strategy. But
weirder things have been seen, such as the OP's piece.
IN ALL SERVICES. At the top brass level we are talking about the elites. Many hard chargers, driven by sincerely applied talent and leadership get
to the top in the military; but MANY are simply 'promoted' to their positions because of who their daddy is, what 'frat' they belong to, or
generally what social class they belong to. I would not be surprised to find many such things in the service, where the elites have ensconced
themselves awaiting their next 'social' promotion.
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If you think this story is bad, it doesnt even scratch the surface compared to the amounts of money being laundered through companies like KBR and
Halliburton etc.
Check out this clip (first several minutes is about contaminated water but the rest gets into the sickening amount of our tax dollars being given away
to the highest bidder).
[edit on 18-7-2008 by SystemiK]
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