First Class for Military Brass -- Not So Luxurious for Troops

From the Washington Post: "First Class for Brass on Air Force Jets?"
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/07/the_air_forces_use_of.html

The Air Force's use of more than $16 million in counter-terrorism funds for "comfort capsules" on military planes has prompted an internal debate over whether taxpayer money should be used for luxury Defense items.

Air Force officials say the government needs the new "capsules," which will be installed aboard Air Force aircraft, to ensure that leaders can talk, work and rest comfortably in the air. But the top brass's preoccupation with creating new high-flying luxury in wartime has alienated lower-ranking Air Force officers familiar with the effort, as well as congressional staff and a nonprofit group that calls the program a waste of money, The Post's R. Jeffrey Smith reports.

Internal Air Force e-mails documenting the decision making for the planes were provided to The Post by the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit Washington group, and independently authenticated. They show that the mobile pallets feature plush, swiveling leather chairs, beds, a couch, a table, a 37-inch flat-screen monitor with stereo speakers and a full-length mirror.



Then you have the "respectful" quarters for the troops...

services. It's too officer-heavy.

Military pay was very low back then and members with families were below the poverty level at that time. A lot of military families qualified for and were receiving food stamps and in an interview with a colonel at the pentagon he blamed it all on them saying that enlisted people just don't know how to budget their money.

Edit - just a guess what a full bird colonel made back then but I think it was around $50k a year but I do know for sure that an enlisted man E-3 or lower with dependants was less than $9k a year.

higher ranking Officers receiving the better end of most everything, but the real issue is what the funds they used were intended for. Apparently they thought funding their comfort was more important than counter-terrorism.

The misappropriation of funds is standardized procedure -- ripping off the taxpayer is their favorite pastime.

defending the United States on 9/11.

But then whoever would have thought, as Condoleezza said that famous day, that the Pentagon would be a target? Certainly not Bush's National Security Adviser.

That is ... whenever they get that opportunity to take a shower.

And the deadbeats at the top get tretaed like royalty.

That is a perfect example of how rethuglicans look at things.