Top military chiefs: Cut pay and benefits

[MADem]

42. Here's the problem with not utilizing contracts, and let's use the "grass cutting on the base" one

as an example, that was brought up, upthread.

Say you pay a landscaping firm three thousand a month to cut your grass, and you want to save this money by taking your personnel and payroll clerks off the job to do the work instead--it's only an hour or two if you get all of 'em doing the mowing, and they can just do their regular work faster, or maybe give 'em a longer work day, why not?

Suppose you've even got left-over mowers so you don't have to buy new ones, and suppose they are in good condition so they don't need repair right now (no expense there). And suppose you don't have to worry about morale as all these desk jockeys try to manage mowing in the hot sun, and get insulted because they aren't being treated professionally?

What will eventually happen is that the equivalent of a "desk audit" will take place, and the bean counters at the senior levels will notice that somehow, Command Z is able to do both grass cutting AND pay/personnel with "X" number of people. Those very bean counters will say "Well, to hell with that--lets get rid of three or four of those military people, and tell that commander that he's going to have to hire contractors to mow that lawn--if he keeps doing it with military personnel, we'll know they have way too much spare time on their hands! We're not in business to pay retirement benefits to lawn mowers!"

Same way with annual budgets. Depending on the climate, you always cry for five to ten to even fifteen percent more, knowing that when the inevitable austerity moves are announced, they'll insist that you cut your request by at least that much!

It's amazing....the Pentagon can't account for trillions down the years, but they will go over your shitty little forty or fifty million dollar installation budget with a fine-toothed comb!!