The Chair Force-
“The data showed that the Defense Department was paying a staggering number of people — 1,014,000 contractors, civilians and uniformed personnel — to fill back-office jobs far from the front lines. That workforce supports 1.3 million troops on active duty, the fewest since 1940.”
A painful memory of a warning from my youth went something like the following.
If left to the bureaucrats, before you know it everything will be like the British navy: all admirals and no ships.
Yawn. The Defense department doesn’t tell my school what to teach or what kind of power my state can use. Cut funding for the EPA and the education department then get back to me.
Nothing much has changed since the 1970s when contractors billed Washington for basic hand tools that cost hundreds of dollars. And got paid too.
I’m not saying the Defense dept doesn’t have lots of waste, but the 600 dollar hammer was a myth.
http://www.govexec.com/federal-news/1998/12/the-myth-of-the-600-hammer/5271/
I do know that a toilet seat for the Lockheed Orion cost thousands of dollars, because I made the plug and moulds for the carbon fibre version which cost way under $1,000.
It’s not the materials or the fabrication that costs,it’s the weight of the paper work and sometimes the requirements.
You can’t just go bid on and build widgets for the military,you must also see to it you are EEOC compliant,because you must check all the boxes in regards to race and gender.
Of course OSHA regs have to be met,all employees must be bubble wrapped for safety.
And all materials must be documented with at least three pages of documentation.Because the widgets can all be junk,but the paperwork must be in order and filed no later than the contract stipulates.
Not in the military, but still in the government.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-08/immigration-department-spends-thousands-on-taps/8103522