More cronyism at the Bush Pentagon: Troops Suffer

Email Print posted by detroiter 05/08/2008 09:24:03 AM EST

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At one time, Detroit was considered the Arsenal of Democracy of America.  Our automotive and manufacturing sectors retooled during WWII to build the very best fighting equipment for our soldiers.

Sadly, that is not the case today.  It's not that Detroit lost the capacity, knowledge or will to do so... they simply lost the up-hill battle against Bush Pentagon cronies. 

This is the story of one Detroit-area based firm, it's owner and employees that discovered just how bad things have become in Washington.

Local entrepreneur and engineer, Jerry Bazinski, invested millions into a Pentagon contract bid to build a light-strike military vehicle for the U.S. Marine Corps.
Insite Industries Inc. competed for the contract with several other companies from across the country for the opportunity to build a fully armored high-powered vehicle that could be transported in the Marine's Osprey Helicopter. 

Things were looking very promising for Insite, because their vehicle consistently out-performed the other entries by leaps and bounds and everyone at the company was certain that they would ultimately win the contract.

Sadly, they did not.
Like me, you might be wondering to yourself: WHY?

And so did a local Metro Detroit reporter.

What he uncovered is not only shocking and disturbing, but it highlights an underlying problem with the current state of the American Military Industrial Complex.
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More cronyism at the Bush Pentagon: Troops Suffer | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
The Wal-mart Military (none / 0)
From a previous post discussing how the Repugs "support the troops"
 

 

plan on being here for at least 12 years

 

Not likely, benefits for active duty have eroded significantly since Bush took office . Retirees dont even talkabout it any more...and no we dont get free health care or much of anything else.

But you have stumbled across the dirty little secret of the Rumsfeld molded DOD.

 

I call it the Wal-mart Military. Senior NCO billets have been drastically reduced. Your chances of reaching E-6,  unless you are in a extremely high demand specialty, are fairly limited. More restrictive tenure rules preclude service member from ever reaching retirement or other eligibilty points.

The Repubs say they want is a highly mobile force. What the really mean is mobile in the sense of high turnover so they can have low cost , entry level troops with no long term commitment.

They are doing this to cut manpower costs and plow the money  back to the biggest GOP political contributors and revolving door employers: Defense contractors. Hence the cuts in Veterans care, funding for infrastructure that supports troops; barracks, habitability, education programs and so on.

Throw in a drain like Iraq and they are breaking the all volunteer force in the process.

Just think, these guys love America and support the troops.  As with all things with these so called conservatives..its all about the money.

But hey, nothing a good Flag pin wont cure.

by MRFred on 05/08/2008 11:10:39 AM EST

Coup (none / 0)
This is how the whole economy works, firstly there is no such thing as a "free market" its about connections not competitiveness. What this perverted system does is reinforce inequalities and wealth in a few hands and creating barriers to the rest of society from moving up. The United States is no longer a meritocratic society, social mobility is almost impossible for most people, instead more and more are being pushed out of the middle class into poverty, and debt. If Americans really want things to change, they really have to think beyond the current system, otherwise it will merely compound itself. Americans need to stand up in a real way.

Blog: http://perspectivos.blogspo t.com/

by Nick86 on 05/08/2008 01:03:59 PM EST

More cronyism at the Bush Pentagon: Troops Suffer | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
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