Abu Muqawama: Post
Abu Muqawama retains its autonomy and the views and beliefs expressed within the blog do not reflect those of CNAS. Abu Muqawama retains the right to delete comments that include words that incite violence; are predatory, hateful, or intended to intimidate or harass; or degrade people on the basis of gender, race, class, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. In summary, don't be a jerk.
Quote of the Day
CNAS -- and specifically, the CNAS kitchen -- is apparently where retired military officers come to channel their inner smart-ass. Today's quote comes from Col. (Ret.) Bob Killebrew, who was deep in discussion with Cdr. Herb "Herbal" Carmen (of "Sun Kings" fame) about the horse-trading with Virginia's congressmen that could determine how JFCOM is shuttered. When someone in the kitchen floated the possibility that Sec. Gates might swap JFCOM for one or possibly two new DDG destroyers, Col. Killebrew responded with the following:
Well, if you close JFCOM and build one or two destroyers instead, that would certainly be a good deal. I don't know how Sec. Gates is planning to man a ship with all those retired colonels, though.
"Thank you," he then didn't add. "I'll be at the Laugh Shack in Cape May through Labor Day."
For more on JFCOM and which defense contractors stand to lose the most, read this article and scroll to the end. (h/t @paulmcleary)
Well 3,200 is almost 10% of
Well 3,200 is almost 10% of 33,000 so that nearly takes care of the first contractor cut.
All them retired Col.s and
All them retired Col.s and Lt. Col's can work for the many "solutions" companies around DC.
Not if Bobby Gates has his
Not if Bobby Gates has his way, they won't...TRANSCOM looks to be running
TRANSCOM looks to be running with about 1,300 Mil/Civ and 1,600 contractors. Where's my scimitar?
http://www.thedailyshow.com/w
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-august-10-2010/municipal-land-use-... (burn Korans day?!!!)
Funniest scene in The Men
Funniest scene in The Men Who Stare At Goats: The Battle For Ramadi.
Bob: "Bob Knicks. U.S. Army Small Business Office. Ask me what business I'm in, Mohammed?"
Iraqi: "What business are you in, sir?"
Bob: "Right now, I'm in the quality of life business. We've got over 25 million Iraqis out here, they want to be independent, want to make something of themselves, but more than anything else, they wanna buy stuff. Cell phones, digital cameras, leisure suits, you name it, if it sells in Boston we can damn well sell it in Baghdad - Right, Mohammed? He knows what I'm talking about. We got Halliburton, Parsons, Perini - were gonna have McDonalds. We're gonna have Starbucks. No corporate tax. It's gonna be a gold rush - Oh, and by the way, fuck the French! Did you hear that shit? Chirac wants to bring French contractors in? Ha ha ha - hey Phil, what's the most common French expression?"
Phil: "I give up."
Bob: "Ha ha ha - That's fuckin' funny. Year zero boys, year zero. . . Okay, we are in Indian country now."
http://www.google.com/hostedn
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gB8cHuobTuv0x63xhVQURz...
Not sure what the fuss is.
Not sure what the fuss is. Spending cuts always follow a military wind down.
Wait until we get back to the BRAC discussions.
One thing I don't get is you take 50 generals off the table they really have not gone away. They still get their $300,000/year plus salary and medical. Where is the savings?
In the private sector Gates would take JFCOM private and boot their general asses in to the unemployment line. They would not get hired in the private sector cause of their age no one wants to pay them or do their health care unless there was a contract in it for them (they are hired for their connections). JFCOM functions would be off shored and reorg'ed. Then in about a year or so time there would be an IPO. Just like Government Motors. Then Gates would count his 30-50% return on equity take the profits in stock then take a year to get capital gains and pay only about 15-20% in federal income tax on the booty.
Guys I feel for are the untrained grunts coming back to 18% unemployment/under employement. The ones that do not have the connections that the private sector could use to get more contracts. Military brass and politicians are made men. Grunt does the heavy work and the boys upstairs get the bene's.
Some of the grunts did well
Some of the grunts did well too.
I know of at least one grunt because of his MOS and after his reup bonuses raked in well into a six-figure salary for five years. Mix in the tax advantage of being out of the CONUS. Half Mil for his troubles.
Not bad. Got contractor's pay?....not Geee....but Xe.
You guys at CNAS worried about your budget being cut?
@Zak, Good for the
@Zak,
Good for the grunts....
Yes, indeed CNAS seems to be taking this quite seriously.
This is needed on so many levels. Morally for one - it's time for the military to put some daylight between us and those shady DC types.
Not to mention there's so much gross inefficiency and duplication of effort.
Go Bobby Gates!!!
Saving American's billions
Saving American's billions of dollars and dumping over-paid government contractors. Bobby, here's to you! Mr. Contractor ass-kicking DoD Top Dawg! Go drink an ice cold Bud Light!
Best thing Bob could do is: (A TQM or bench marking survey on all DOD contractor positions: the importance / need for those positions and the contractors' performance should be on a rating scale. Just like the "Two Bob's" from the movie Office Space, all contractor's positions should be evaluated: No matter what the Contractor's position or job, their security clearance or what service they provide. No Contractor should be protected!
Gates should keep most or all of the super-smart Contractors working at DARPA.
A small percentage of the other's, could be brought on as full time employees: GS modest salary, (a reduced salary!) with normal health and retirement benefits. If they have already retired once from the DoD, no additional health or retirement benefits will be paid. If you've already put money into the kitty for your Thrift Saving Plan once, you can no longer be a participant in TSP, if you're already retired once from Government Service.
TSP is the BIG KILLER! Rehiring: double- dipping employees should be avoided if at all possible. Also, individuals who are on Personal Services Contractors or Without Actual Employment drain so much money out of our current U.S. Government Budget its unbelievable. It's literally in the hundreds of trillions of dollars.
Most LM, GD, SAIC and NG Contractors are being paid too much (over double), the amount of money they should actually receive. In fact, most of these contractor's are retired DoD employees or they are the son, daughter or spouse of an U.S. Government Employee. There's a lot of nepotism going in many of these contractor positions and it's flat out disgusting. I think a lot of the American public would be shocked if they knew how much nepotism was going on.
What I find most interesting about this survey is in the numbers.
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/08/what-work-carried-out-joint-forces-command
The most glaring being SAIC, which was included in the Engineering and Technical Services portion of this survey, but no where else below in the figures. Why is that?
If you look at the Rank / Company and Number of Contractor Positions in lines 2 through 10 you don't see SAIC – do you?
Now compare the salary and number of contractors: in positions listed in lines 2 through 10 with row number One (1).
Why are we spending over one trillion dollars on Row Number One?
Obviously SAIC employees / contractors are receiving the highest paying salaries in the U.S. Federal Government. It would probably be prudent to evaluate and re-engineer these positions immediately, world wide! If they can't reduce SAIC contractor's salaries, the DoD should bring them on as GS, at a reduced salary or simply terminate their positions. In the end, this will save taxpayers hundreds of billions, I would guess tens of trillions of dollars.
With 186 JIFFY-COM Contractors in row #1 and SAIC being listed as the highest paid of all those contractors, it only makes sense to trim the fat now! Our government can't afford to continue paying contractors like SAIC outrageous salaries for work that could be done for ½ the price!
Take action now Secretary Gates! More fat trimming is required!
Thank you for sharing this
Thank you for sharing this valuable information. Right now I'm busy with my work for 642-446 CIPT1 and 642-979 DCUCI exam and then I'm planning to go to Canada for my final project of 642-357 DCSNS and 642-655 WAASFE. That's why these days I'm too busy with my documents and can not afford to search for these same things. Keep sharing...
Terrific blog! I genuinely
Terrific blog! I genuinely adore how it truly is straightforward on my eyes in addition to the info are well written. I am questioning how I could be notified whenever a new post has been made. I have subscribed to your rss feed which must do the trick! Have a nice day!
Hi there, just became aware
Hi there, just became aware of your weblog through Google, and found that it really is definitely informative. I am going to watch out for brussels. I'll appreciate in case you continue this in future. Loads of persons is going to be benefited from your writing. Cheers!
I agree with your point,
I agree with your point, please share with us more good articles.1971 Cadillac Eldorado AC Compressor
Add your comment