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If budget/money/funds is the issue...then why not allow/let/include Federal workers/civilians shop at the Commisary, PX/BX as regular customers?
Certainly this would add revenue and maybe the whole idea of closing these facilities be gone.
It might seem that higher pay might be possible. He states " Adopting this option would do just that by saving more than $5 billion every year once fully implemented without compromising our nation’s defense in any way". Maybe, who knows? We have about 1,429,995 active military, and we could save $5,000,000,000 million per year? How about parsing one half of that out to all active duty members? $2,500,000,000 would come out to $145 per month pay raise for each active duty member... There are a few flaws, the Senator talks about just cutting CONUS commissaries, some his budget numbers seem to be for U.S. military throughout the whole world.
That's called by various names: "Bait and switch," "shell game," et cetera.
The budgetary appropriation process for commissaries and military pay are so far apart that there is zero chance of a cut in one area resulting in an increase in the other. It simply would not happen.
You may be able to count on one hand, but the long lines at my local commissary tell a different story. Costco may be cheaper, but the closest one to my base is an hour away. From the next base, 2-2.5 hours. When the commissaries were closed as part of the government shutdown the line wrapped around the entire store the last day prior to closing. One of my friends on recruiting duty grocery bill increased by over $300 monthly because he did not have access to a commissary. I fortunately recruited in a military town.
Not having a food facility on base will be a severe blow to many, especially junior married troops--I suspect it's more likely the CONUS commissaries will be outsourced rather than closed, if anything. I would hope.
Places like Costco can be cheaper if you can afford to buy in bulk, but item for item and including sales taxes, commissaries usually provide a cheaper "shopping basket" in the long run.
People are going to suffer and some are going to be out of a job soon.
They will only cause pain where the military wants them to cause the loudest squealing. Don't think for a moment that the beancounters in uniform don't know how to play budget politics.
The "commissaries" and "exchange services" are different agencies and different missions...
The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) operates a worldwide chain of commissaries.
The Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense with two missions, provide merchandise and services to authorized customers and to generate earnings to supplement appropriated funds for the support of United States Army and Air Force Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) programs.
The Navy operates the equivalent Navy Exchange (NEX) and the Marine Corps operates the Marine Corps Exchange (MCX) and the United States Coast Guard operates the Coast Guard Exchange (CGX).
Anyone here in uniform in the late 70s? We had a four-year budget freeze, including pay. On my base, we were forbidden to run air conditioning in family housing unless the military member was in the house. There were actually monitors who walked the streets during the duty day--if they heard an air conditioner running, they checked to see if the military member was actually at home.
If budget/money/funds is the issue...then why not allow/let/include Federal workers/civilians shop at the Commisary, PX/BX as regular customers?
Certainly this would add revenue and maybe the whole idea of closing these facilities be gone.
My .2 cents.
There are several legal issues. You would now be competing with local businesses. Taxes would not be paid to the local and state civilian communities.
There are also different agencies and missions involved.
Anyone here in uniform in the late 70s? We had a four-year budget freeze, including pay. On my base, we were forbidden to run air conditioning in family housing unless the military member was in the house. There were actually monitors who walked the streets during the duty day--if they heard an air conditioner running, they checked to see if the military member was actually at home.
That's called by various names: "Bait and switch," "shell game," et cetera.
I disagree based on the actual definitions of the terms you are thowing out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph_Kirk
The budgetary appropriation process for commissaries and military pay are so far apart that there is zero chance of a cut in one area resulting in an increase in the other. It simply would not happen.
Tell it to Tom Coburn, M.D., United States Senator from Oklahoma. He has some good points and appears to have put a lot of thought into the subject. I read through the 70+ page document, it would be a shame to toss out the entire concept and ideas. But I really did not grasp all of the ideas, that is his job. I'm just an old retired soldier.
I disagree based on the actual definitions of the terms you are thowing out.
Tell it to Tom Coburn, M.D., United States Senator from Oklahoma. He has some good points and appears to have put a lot of thought into the subject. I read through the 70+ page document, it would be a shame to toss out the entire concept and ideas. But I really did not grasp all of the ideas, that is his job. I'm just an old retired soldier.
Just my opinions.
He might mean well, and it might even be a good idea. But the issues are simply too far apart in the budget process. The generals will have their budget really tightly wound together when it goes to Congress. For a senator, it's like coming in at the end of a really complex game of Jenga. You can't just yank a piece out of the bottom and place it on the top.
Sometimes Congress tries, and the generals will allow unintended consequences break something just to teach Senators a lesson. Do you remember the brou-ha-ha in 2007 when it was reported that wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan were in horrible conditions in a run-down Walter Reed military hospital?
Well, the reason it was run-down was because Congress had voted in 2005 to close it. The military isn't going to budget refurbishment for a facility that Congress has ordered closed. Congress: "Did we do that?"
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