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ORIGINAL: BamaD

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ORIGINAL: MrRodgers

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ORIGINAL: BamaD

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ORIGINAL: MrRodgers

How about the outlandish cost overruns at the Pentagon, $9 billion aircraft carrier that turns into over $13 billion ? The F35 10 year acquisition that goes from $1.3 trillion to $1.9 trillion and climbing ? The ever-escalating cost of the B2 bomber ?

How about cutting the brass ? It's now so top heavy we won WWII on two fronts with 1000 generals total. We now have over 2000.

Add to that the very generous military retirement for officers that see no action at all. Much more than private industry and in addition to soc. sec and any other fed benefits and retirement.

You don't understand much about the military do you.
A lot of officers who were never under fire did things that kept many of those who were alive. By your standard Gen Marshall would not have gotten a retirement, or at least a greatly reduced one.
Not only that but the retirement is one of the ways they excuse the pay they give people.

Well Marshall's life was never threatened and not only was his retirement going be very nice anyway, who's to say that for example...Patton and others like him, shouldn't had gotten more ?

As for officers, their active duty pay is just fine and there are far too many of the highest ranks anyway active and then of course now, many...retired and on several $1,000/month.

Plus many 'retire' and then go work in private MIC jobs and make 6 figures being straight from the inside. I know an admiral who over 30 years ago, retired on $5,000 a month on top of soc. sec. and went to work for a def. contractor at $200,000/yr.

Officers, let alone enlisted, get a minute fraction of what anyone in civilian life would get for comprable responsibility. You do know that because they are on retirement they can be called back on a moments notice, as can enlisted people don't you?

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ORIGINAL: MrRodgers

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ORIGINAL: BamaD

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ORIGINAL: MrRodgers

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ORIGINAL: BamaD

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ORIGINAL: MrRodgers

How about the outlandish cost overruns at the Pentagon, $9 billion aircraft carrier that turns into over $13 billion ? The F35 10 year acquisition that goes from $1.3 trillion to $1.9 trillion and climbing ? The ever-escalating cost of the B2 bomber ?

How about cutting the brass ? It's now so top heavy we won WWII on two fronts with 1000 generals total. We now have over 2000.

Add to that the very generous military retirement for officers that see no action at all. Much more than private industry and in addition to soc. sec and any other fed benefits and retirement.

You don't understand much about the military do you.
A lot of officers who were never under fire did things that kept many of those who were alive. By your standard Gen Marshall would not have gotten a retirement, or at least a greatly reduced one.
Not only that but the retirement is one of the ways they excuse the pay they give people.

Well Marshall's life was never threatened and not only was his retirement going be very nice anyway, who's to say that for example...Patton and others like him, shouldn't had gotten more ?

As for officers, their active duty pay is just fine and there are far too many of the highest ranks anyway active and then of course now, many...retired and on several $1,000/month.

Plus many 'retire' and then go work in private MIC jobs and make 6 figures being straight from the inside. I know an admiral who over 30 years ago, retired on $5,000 a month on top of soc. sec. and went to work for a def. contractor at $200,000/yr.

Officers, let alone enlisted, get a minute fraction of what anyone in civilian life would get for comprable responsibility. You do know that because they are on retirement they can be called back on a moments notice, as can enlisted people don't you?

You are correct but only partially so:

Only in times of grave national emergency, the president can authorize a partial mobilization of the reserves, which would involve up to 1,000,000 troops for a 24-month stretch. A full mobilization, which can occur only if Congress has declared war or during a national emergency, would call up all reserves and military retirees younger than 60 for the duration of the crisis.

HERE

But not all of that is a done deal:

In keeping with the haphazard aura that has traditionally enveloped the IRR, even the military's legal authority to force IRR vets back into active duty is hazy.

Those troops are not typically subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, so it's unclear exactly how IRR recall notices can be enforced. During the spate of IRR mobilizations a few years ago, some veterans reportedly avoided the orders simply by passively ignoring them, refusing to answer their phones or sign certified letters.

In October 2014, many veterans were stunned to learn that President Obama signed an executive order authorizing the recall of IRR reservists in case they were needed for Operation United Assistance, the military mission to curtail spread of the Ebola virus in West Africa. That mission ended earlier than expected and no IRR troops were recalled.

HERE

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ORIGINAL: LadyPact

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ORIGINAL: thompsonx


ORIGINAL: LadyPact

Your experience with the military was clearly different than mine.

Maybe it's because you weren't a spouse? Your time? You were probably just doing your job.

Ya know, that thing you said before about how 'the Army didn't issue you a wife so you don't need one"? Some of that changed. It's different now. Some of it, anyway.

As far as I'm concerned, there ain't gonna be anybody on this board calling MP a pussy or there was some kind of free ride involved with the benefits he got. MP's a better man than those who would talk shit about him.

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Inside the box? Everything that I could have wanted for a holiday meal, and then some. A turkey. Potatoes. Yams. Celery, carrots, flour, sugar, salt. Green beans, canned pumpkin, apples, oranges. Chocolate pudding mix for the kids. Extra peanut butter, bread, crackers, condensed soup. That kind of thing.

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ORIGINAL: Marini

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ORIGINAL: LadyPact

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ORIGINAL: thompsonx


ORIGINAL: LadyPact

Your experience with the military was clearly different than mine.

Maybe it's because you weren't a spouse? Your time? You were probably just doing your job.

Ya know, that thing you said before about how 'the Army didn't issue you a wife so you don't need one"? Some of that changed. It's different now. Some of it, anyway.

As far as I'm concerned, there ain't gonna be anybody on this board calling MP a pussy or there was some kind of free ride involved with the benefits he got. MP's a better man than those who would talk shit about him.

Thanks for joining us LadyPact.
I can't express enough appreciation for those in the armed services.
The way many of our veterans {VA horror stories}are treated is criminal.
I always try to thank those in the military for serving and protecting us.

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ORIGINAL: dcnovice

quote:

Inside the box? Everything that I could have wanted for a holiday meal, and then some. A turkey. Potatoes. Yams. Celery, carrots, flour, sugar, salt. Green beans, canned pumpkin, apples, oranges. Chocolate pudding mix for the kids. Extra peanut butter, bread, crackers, condensed soup. That kind of thing.

That's wonderful!

Well, aside from the canned pumpkin, which is an abomination unto the Lord. But I digress.

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ORIGINAL: LadyPact

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ORIGINAL: KenDckey
Every year at Christmas, the senior personnel would put together "care" packages for the younger troops to help with Christmas Dinner because they couldn't afford it with all the trimmings.

I'll tell you a story.

MP and I were married less than a year. He got called up to go to Oman for three months. Then, he got extended. Ohhhhhh, I was pissed.

We weren't exactly rolling in dough back then. We weren't starving but things were pretty tight.

The Monday before the holiday, this guy with MP's rear attachment shows up at the door. He's holding this box. Truth be told, it's a pretty big box. He starts explaining to me that the box was for us. No, it wasn't a mistake.

Inside the box? Everything that I could have wanted for a holiday meal, and then some. A turkey. Potatoes. Yams. Celery, carrots, flour, sugar, salt. Green beans, canned pumpkin, apples, oranges. Chocolate pudding mix for the kids. Extra peanut butter, bread, crackers, condensed soup. That kind of thing.

All in all, pretty damn amazing box.

So, if nobody every told you, thank you, from my military family to yours. That box meant something to me then and it still does now.

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ORIGINAL: thompsonx



Tell us of the great responsibilities of junior enlisted men(who make up the majority of the military).



Comissioned officers serve at the pleasure of the president.



Enlisted folk who have served 6 years active are free for life.

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ORIGINAL: BamaD

This one is dumb. You'd never think a person would want AC in Alaska. That last summer? I would have killed for a window unit. (Either that, or a window in the living room that opened.) Ninety-nine degrees and the heat from the wildfires on top of it.

At Ft Meade MD we didn't have AC, of course our bat infested quarters were built for Pattons troops when he was stationed there, in 1917.

At Maxwell AFB Al base housing controled the AC and heat.
The temp had to be over a certain point for a couple of weeks (and after a specific date) to turn on the AC and below a certain point (and after a certain date) for a couple of weeks to turn on the heat. How far over or below that temp it got didn't matter.

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ORIGINAL: KenDckey

quote:

ORIGINAL: thompsonx



Tell us of the great responsibilities of junior enlisted men(who make up the majority of the military).



Comissioned officers serve at the pleasure of the president.



Enlisted folk who have served 6 years active are free for life.

Of course you recognize that Enlisted personnel can and do command some Army units. They are usually small, but command is not solely the perview of Officers. That gives them literal authority over life and limb in a combat situation and actual authority over their subordinates daily lives. I was offered one such command as an E6. I did serve under two different commands of E7's.

Enlisted personnel are also resposible for millions of dollars in equipment that if lost or damaged thru negligence must be replaced by them (thru reimbursement).

Officers sign contracts just like Enlisted personnel. Officers can be called back regardless of how many years served.

the 6 year committment of enlisted is subject to change if we were to declare war, institute the draft, etc. Depends on what the law is at that time.

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ORIGINAL: LadyPact

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ORIGINAL: dcnovice

quote:

Inside the box? Everything that I could have wanted for a holiday meal, and then some. A turkey. Potatoes. Yams. Celery, carrots, flour, sugar, salt. Green beans, canned pumpkin, apples, oranges. Chocolate pudding mix for the kids. Extra peanut butter, bread, crackers, condensed soup. That kind of thing.

That's wonderful!

Well, aside from the canned pumpkin, which is an abomination unto the Lord. But I digress.

Didn't matter. It was the effort that counted.

(I actually don't eat pumpkin, canned or otherwise. They wanted us to be able to have pie for desert. The people in the unit had thought ahead.)

Not only did the money to buy the food have to be acquired, somebody took the time out of their life to do the shopping. Put together these various 'care' packages for the family of these people who were deployed. Spent their own time and money to deliver them, even in the cold.

After I posted on this thread yesterday, I was talking to my <grown> son about this. Do you know what he said? "Yeah, Mom. That's when Sgt. Xxxxxxx brought us that stuff. I served with a guy with the same name when I was in Germany."

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ORIGINAL: BamaD

This one is dumb. You'd never think a person would want AC in Alaska. That last summer? I would have killed for a window unit. (Either that, or a window in the living room that opened.) Ninety-nine degrees and the heat from the wildfires on top of it.

At Ft Meade MD we didn't have AC, of course our bat infested quarters were built for Pattons troops when he was stationed there, in 1917.

At Maxwell AFB Al base housing controled the AC and heat.
The temp had to be over a certain point for a couple of weeks (and after a specific date) to turn on the AC and below a certain point (and after a certain date) for a couple of weeks to turn on the heat. How far over or below that temp it got didn't matter.

First, I apologize. I typed up a response to this in the wee hours of the morning and then my computer ate it.

I can assure you that Ft Meade barracks and housing have greatly improved since your days. The ones you were in are probably in are gone. They only recently redid the 'post hotel'. A lot of the office buildings are still old, so you know what the heat/AC deal with those is like.

The bat thing? I'm not surprised. People wouldn't think so, but it's a high bat population area. It's very easy for them to take up residence. Do you mind if I ask you something? How did you guys manage *not* to get sick? The guano alone has been known to bring on a pretty nasty disease.

We didn't have anything like that at Greely. As far as infestations go, (i.e., insects, rodents, etc) the posts in AK come in much lower on the totem pole than just about and post in the lower 48. Housing was fair. I've seen a heck of a lot worse. You have to remember that the prior duty station was Camp Roberts and their housing (we didn't live on post) were the old WWII/Japanese internment camp buildings. After seeing those, the units on Greely didn't look so bad.

I did complain about the size of the kitchen for the entire three years. I used to call it the walk in closet with a fridge and stove. Due to MP's rank, we did have a lot of square footage. We did control our own heat but we could never get it right. Every bedroom was a different temperature. Probably because we shared the heating system with the unit we shared the wall with for a while. I probably shouldn't have complained at all because a lot of the people up there live in water-less cabins and heat comes from the wood burning stoves. Stuff like running water is considered a luxury.



ETA - MP says to tell you that "goose-poop field" is pretty much the same.

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ORIGINAL: dcnovice
I was just kidding. Not using canned pumpkin is one of my family's many holiday quirks.

Well, at least now, when those days happen where I'm trying to cheer you up by saying there will be pie? I guess I know what kind to make.

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ORIGINAL: KenDckey

https://www.yahoo.com/news/darpa-wants-build-living-materials-190602558.html?nhp=1

If civilians want to grow housing, let them figure it out. Why should the military pay for expensive boon dogles that will assist civilians much more than the military. Makes no difference that the entire construction trade might have to llearn a new trick or so. Let the money go to pay raises.

Obama wants civilians to make $15/hr or 31200/yr for entry level positions yet only wants the military (2016 pay chart) to make $19,800/year. Based upon a 40 hr week.

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ORIGINAL: LadyPact

quote:

ORIGINAL: BamaD

This one is dumb. You'd never think a person would want AC in Alaska. That last summer? I would have killed for a window unit. (Either that, or a window in the living room that opened.) Ninety-nine degrees and the heat from the wildfires on top of it.

At Ft Meade MD we didn't have AC, of course our bat infested quarters were built for Pattons troops when he was stationed there, in 1917.

At Maxwell AFB Al base housing controled the AC and heat.
The temp had to be over a certain point for a couple of weeks (and after a specific date) to turn on the AC and below a certain point (and after a certain date) for a couple of weeks to turn on the heat. How far over or below that temp it got didn't matter.

First, I apologize. I typed up a response to this in the wee hours of the morning and then my computer ate it.

I can assure you that Ft Meade barracks and housing have greatly improved since your days. The ones you were in are probably in are gone. They only recently redid the 'post hotel'. A lot of the office buildings are still old, so you know what the heat/AC deal with those is like.

The bat thing? I'm not surprised. People wouldn't think so, but it's a high bat population area. It's very easy for them to take up residence. Do you mind if I ask you something? How did you guys manage *not* to get sick? The guano alone has been known to bring on a pretty nasty disease.

We didn't have anything like that at Greely. As far as infestations go, (i.e., insects, rodents, etc) the posts in AK come in much lower on the totem pole than just about and post in the lower 48. Housing was fair. I've seen a heck of a lot worse. You have to remember that the prior duty station was Camp Roberts and their housing (we didn't live on post) were the old WWII/Japanese internment camp buildings. After seeing those, the units on Greely didn't look so bad.

I did complain about the size of the kitchen for the entire three years. I used to call it the walk in closet with a fridge and stove. Due to MP's rank, we did have a lot of square footage. We did control our own heat but we could never get it right. Every bedroom was a different temperature. Probably because we shared the heating system with the unit we shared the wall with for a while. I probably shouldn't have complained at all because a lot of the people up there live in water-less cabins and heat comes from the wood burning stoves. Stuff like running water is considered a luxury.



ETA - MP says to tell you that "goose-poop field" is pretty much the same.