Base Closings

[Todd]

Politicians just love to raise holy hell when the Pentagon goes out there and spends taxpayer funds on $600 hammers and $1000 heated toilet seats. To listen to these politicians the Pentagon does nothing but waste money – day after week after month after year.

Let’s talk REAL money though. The type of money it takes to keep an entire military base open, not just the type of money it takes to buy a solid-gold crapper seat. Now the Pentagon wants to close some obsolete military bases. They think they’re wasting tens of millions of dollars a year keeping these bases open.

Now that the Pentagon really wants to save big bucks, what are the politicians saying? They’re against it, of course! Yeah, it might save money – but it will cost them votes! People who lose jobs at closed military bases don’t vote for incumbents.

It’s all the proof you need. When it comes to getting votes or saving taxpayer money --- getting votes will always come first.

 

[Weird Harold]

Now that the Pentagon really wants to save big bucks, what are the politicians saying? They’re against it, of course! Yeah, it might save money – but it will cost them votes! People who lose jobs at closed military bases don’t vote for incumbents.

Digging deep in the archives again?

Over the last ten years, the US Military has closed something like 20% of their bases. The article you quoted without attributaion looks very much like the articles that were rampant at the time the decision were made on which passes were to be closed.

I'm not aware of a new round of base closures being discussed at this time, although there are always some discussions about base closings when the military budget is being debated.

"$600 hammers and $1000 heated toilet seats," are problems the military was guilty of in the 1960's and 1970's -- most of those outrageous prices were corrected by the time I retired 12 years ago. (BTW, the $1000 toilet seat wasn't heated, it was a plain aluminium stamped metal toilet seat.)

FWIW, the military won almost every base closure argument over which bases were unnecessary. In the end, the politicians had very little to do with the decision as to which bases closed.

 

[Lost Soul]

The real cost is keeping troops in England, Germany, and Korea.

That is where they should start with the base closing

 

[Never]

I didn't even know there were US millitary bases in England.

 

[Lost Soul]

The Air Force has some bases in the UK.

 

[The_old_man]

I spent nine years in military procurement. Those $600 Hammres only cost $12.95, the rest was packaging and paperwork. The packaging in the neiborhood of $20, the rest ... 20 copies of the shipping doc. to each of 15 supply bases and 50 to each procurement district office. Then there was the contract office and all the personel and paperwork there.

 

[Weird Harold]

The Air Force has some bases in the UK.

Yep, they sure do. About half as many as they had twenty years ago.

About two-thirds of the based closed in the last round of base closures were overseas bases -- Including Clark AB in the Phillipines which was the largest base outside the US. (Of course Mt Pinatubo made that decision fairly easy. It was on the list before the eruption but it closed five years earlier than planned because of the volcano.)

 

[rambling man]

South Carolina must be the most important state...for it's size it has like ten military bases

On the other hand, before World War One, the German Empire developed a plan to invade the United States at Hilton Head, using a long chain of luxury liners full of troops (Paul Kennedy The War Plans of the Great Powers) Incidentally, that's how they invaded Norway in WWII

I suppose that's why South Carolina needs so much military protection Then again it could be timely Senatorial influence