Wasteful Spending

Unless you've been living under a rock, you probably heard about the U.S. government shutdown in this month.  Well, the good news is that the government has re-opened, but the bad news is that none of the problems are solved.  While some may point to the Affordable Care Act as reason for the government's closure, the fact of the matter is that congress could not come to an agreement on the budget for fiscal year 2014.

As evidenced by the government shutdown, it's pretty clear that balancing the budget is the only thing on everyones' mind.  Whether is the conservative push to cut spending or the liberal argument for increasing taxes, we all realize that something has got to change.  The federal government allocates about one fifth of it's budget to defense.  In 2014, that means the Department of Defense (DoD) gets $526 billion.

If you haven't noticed by now, I'm not one that favors extremes.  More often than not, there isn't a clear right or wrong way to go about something.  Nothing is black and white; there is always some gray area.  Having said that, I always think there is room to both cut spending and raise taxes.  Why can't more people admit that?  You're either for or against the political party you affiliate with and you're seen as a traitor if you see validity in the other party's arguments.  Similarly, if one suggests that the military trim the fat in its budget they're seen as unpatriotic.

If you've ever spent a day in or around the military, you know the military has it's fair share of fat to trim. Whether it's with personnel cuts or the individual budgets of each unit, there is excess everywhere you look.  One could make an argument for the budget being poorly allocated, but regardless the wrong people have too large a sum allotted in their directions.  Rather than citing specific areas that should have their budgets reduced, the topic I am most concerned with is the wasteful attitude that is pervasive throughout the military at almost all levels.  Below are just a few examples:

This first example is just one of wastefulness and selfishness on an individual level.

Today at work, I overheard two officers discussing a luncheon that is required of some to attend this coming Friday.  Being that a few of my co-workers are on temporary orders (TAD/TDY) to my unit, they rate per diem along with a few other allowances during their stay.  As you would expect, sometimes our jobs dictate that we bypass lunch for the sake of completing work.  In those cases, the officers on TAD/TDY can claim a "missed meal" and be given a set amount of money in return missing said meal.  In this particular case, these officers will be at work, but because it is a luncheon they won't be missing their meal.  I'm not sure what to call it other than not having integrity, but the first thing that came to mind when these guys realized they would  have to pay for their mandatory meal was that they could claim this as a missed meal and be paid for this function as a result. (Note: these guys are not Marine officers).  I doubt my effort to dissuade them will have any effect.

Next and equally as appalling is an example that takes place at a higher level, one where commanding officers display their wasteful and selfish attitudes to junior servicemen.

As the end of the fiscal year approaches you can expect to see one of two things in battalions, squadrons, or detachments across the globe.  Everyone will either be drying their hands on there uniforms, because the unit does not have enough money to buy paper-towels for the bathrooms, let alone hand-soap.  Or you'll see troves of TVs, pool tables, or laptops being bought because there is extra money leftover from the current fiscal year.  I'd say the majority of the commands I have been apart of in the past are more often guilty of the latter rather than the former.  The go-to excuse for the latter of these is always, "if we don't spend this now, we'll have a smaller budget next year."  If this is true of my limited experience in the Corps, I can only imagine how many other units have extra cash at the end of the year.  And I'm in the Marine Corps, we're supposed to have the smallest budgets, I can't even imagine how much of the Army's budget could actually be cut before it started to effect day to day operations.

As a caveat I'll add that I am not naive nor jaded enough to think that there aren't units out there hurting for larger budgets.  I know that just about every infantry company would kill to have a few more live fire ranges, but there are far to many non-mission essential organizations out there with far too much unnecessary spending going on.  There has a be a better way for holding both individuals and commands accountable for wasteful spending.  Right now, we have the fraud, waste, and abuse programs, but I haven't heard much happen as a result.  Among my peers, I've heard mention of making financial responsibility or personal finances subject to evaluation for fitness reports.

Figuring out the best way to tackle this problem should be at the forefront of our discussion.  There is waste and selfishness everywhere. It is propagated by our leaders and instilled in our very beings.  We want to make sure that we get the most out of whatever is available.  It's because I witness waste, selfishness, or in some cases poor management on a daily basis that I can confidently identify the military as a source for cutting spending.  I'm not underestimating our responsibility to defend our country.  I am not undervaluing the sacrifices made by our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, but just like everyone else, I can recognize waste when I see it.  It's far past time that we hold those guilty of waste accountable and it starts with the individual, regardless of rank, condemning the action when it's spotted.

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W&P

Click here to view the FY 2014: Budget of the U.S. Government