AMERICAblog: Counterterrorism funds for "Comfort capsules"?
Ben Dover
· 1 year ago
One simply must travel in style while fighting the "Bush Global War on 'Terra"!
Besides, all the other little generals in the world do it this way. <sniff>
Hangtown Danile
· 1 year ago
For my wife a "comfort capsule" is called Vicadan.
moreleesafer
· 1 year ago
Cindy told me it's spelled "Vicodin".
and yeah, it has given me a great deal of comfort these past 4 years also
Dave of the Jungle
· 1 year ago
Morbid Self Importance
Taxpayer Expense
It's the American Way - under these Republicans.
michaelt
· 1 year ago
because we need our leaders to make really bad decisons in the lap of luxury.
Ben Dover
· 1 year ago
How about they haul their multi-starred asses out of government supplied opulence and try something unique like getting our soldiers home. If those generals/commanders have time to discuss furnishings, fabric color and travel suitable for their rank; they are being paid way too much and expected to do way to little while our soldiers are doing actual fighting and dying in Iraq. I would hope the next administration will demote and fire each and every last one of them, worthless bastards that they are.
To play devils advocate, I don't think the basic premise is that horrible, just the execution. The reality of the situation is is an all volunteer military is competing with private America for talent. That being said, consider what a high ranking officer like a general really represents. He/she represents decades of training, a significant government investment, and probably gobs of real world experience managing organizations and people. In the real world, that person would probably be a CEO or something like it.
Being in a position to sit on boards hiring upper level management at companies I can honestly say that people with the kind of backgrounds of a general are very much sought after. I can see where the armed services would want to put SOME perks into their lives like slightly better housing and such. In some ways, it's actually beneficial for the military to do it because it is an incentive (other than pride of service) for lower ranking officers to try to excel.
All that being said, the case in question is ridiculous not because of the basic intent, but because of the sheer stupidity and the execution of it. I would say it almost made more sense to assign flag officers (generals) their own planes than to construct special plugins for standard mil transport. Also, just from a purely moral standpoint, it seems to make more sense that on those rare occassions when a flag officer cant get their own transport and has to fly "with the troops", that they sit and "gasp" interact with the guys. If I was a soldier I think it be very motivating to see some general sitting next to me schleping in the same horrible military transport flight I am.
So, I'm kind of split on this one. On the one hand, it's a commonly accepted thing that being the boss means responsibility and the occassional perks of leadership, on the other, what a badly executed plan from start to finish and in the end this particular perk does nothing more than send the message to the troops that flag officers think they are "too good" to associate with the lower ranks from time to time.
AdmNaismith
· 1 year ago
Presumably they enlisted to serve their country. A General gets plenty of perks without leather chairs, 37" plasma screens and full-length mirrors. How much time are they spending in the air away from the situation on the ground? Too much, sounds like.
ZennButtKicker (tlhwraith)
· 1 year ago
Are you serious? For the best part of the last 3 or 4 decades the military has made a conscious effort to recruit many more than just the very patriotic. Look at any military commercial and they go out of their way to emphasize job-training and after-military opportunities as much as they do patriotism.
I am with you that the comfort capsule thing is really off the rails, but to expect someone with at least a bachelors degree and 20 years or more experience to live by the same standards as some recruit who (maybe) graduated high school is kind of naive. If that's the expectation then there is no way the military can recruit and keep higher quality officers in any significant quantity.
Also, I know a couple of high level officers because my dad was one and it isn't like Patton or George Washington. Modern flag officers do spend most of their time in meetingg and traveling, pretty much the same as any high up in a corporation. That being said, I don't think the image of some general leading the charge on the ground exactly applies anymore when most of their time is spent looking at excel spreadsheets and such.
Bush_Bites
· 1 year ago
If they can't sleep on a bunk or a cot, they shouldn't be in the military.
And maybe they can get a video I-Pod if they're really good.
ZennButtKicker (tlhwraith)
· 1 year ago
I don't think they can't do it, but should that be the expectation? Is it reasonable to expect some general with 2 or 3 decades experience and training to share housing with a buck-private? On your job, aren't their some reasonable accomodations/perks given to those with seniority and to management?
Ksue
· 1 year ago
I would like to hear a reasonable explanation for why the "full-length mirrors" are necessary.
Dave of the Jungle
· 1 year ago
They're for the ceiling over the bed.
Ksue
· 1 year ago
Perfect explanation.
LOL.
mirth
· 1 year ago
These isolated "capsules" were created mostly for the comfort of the likes of Richard Cheney who uses them on overseas flights.
Next up: comfort women or boys.
Rob Mule
· 1 year ago
Ha! My laugh of the day...Think how easy it will be to punch a few selective holes, open the hanger doors and drop the "capsule" into the briney deep...Presto! Pesky failed leadership becomes fish food.
AdmNaismith
· 1 year ago
Fine. So long as they can be hermetically sealed and unopenable from the inside (like a car in the summertime with the 'kiddie locks' engaged).
Ben Dover
· 1 year ago
If generals/commanders are the equivalent of CEO's then by all means they should be coddled and pampered as they scamper about concerning themselves with interior decorating while their "office" workers are busy fighting and dying for the company. Because we certainly wouldn't want them to threaten having to find employment elsewhere, like maybe the competition.
EmGD
· 1 year ago
What else should the Pentagon be spending its money on, proper base wiring? Get real. They need the capability to watch Step It Up on an intercontinental flight.
As a retired AF officer I'm not surprised this "scandal" is taking place in the Air Force. Unlike the marines or army, Air Force officers aren't considered for promotion partially based on how well they look after their troops. Its purely a "kiss up" criteria. I served 4 months in Somalia with the Marines and that expierience told me how lacking in leadership Air Force officers generally were.
bumpkis
· 1 year ago
Already in production and being used....here is Laura's...
Oh fer pity's sake...Am I seeing things or is that black plastic taped over the trailer's windows??? On the one hand, Laurie likes it that the troops can't watch or smell her pot smoking. On the other more negative side Laurie misses peeking at them. Yea, escort the former first couple away from the Inaugural ceremony in one of these...seal it and bury it.
jr
· 1 year ago
the military industrial complex won't stop until the debt ceiling is raised to 100 trillion
AdmNaismith
· 1 year ago
Isn't this what led to FEMA's downfall? Brownie all worried about his shirts and suits, while completely ignoring the situation on the ground...
Quite_Contrary
· 1 year ago
The one that's under construction will be Air Farce One?
Indigo
· 1 year ago
Comfort capsules? I thought a "comfort station" was a military-sponsored wartime bordello. I'm probably wrong. Yeah, that's it, I'm wrong.
nikto
· 1 year ago
Now, in 2008, it has become firmly-established FACT that the Air Force is by far, the most ideologically-right-wing/fundamentalist Xtian-Driven branch of the American Armed Forces.
This item is so telling as to the TRUE, corrupt, immoral, rotten nature of that entire far-right-Xtian mindset.
"The Handmaid's Tale" portrayal was far gentler and more just than the ACTUAL place these rightwing shits would take our country, if they can.
KeithNovo
· 1 year ago
Perhaps Maxwell Smart can sell them on the Cone of Silence as well!
All Comments
Besides, all the other little generals in the world do it this way. <sniff>
and yeah, it has given me a great deal of comfort these past 4 years also
Taxpayer Expense
It's the American Way - under these Republicans.
I would hope the next administration will demote and fire each and every last one of them, worthless bastards that they are.
another mccain surrogate has come out and said
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/18/mccain...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/world/middlee...
Being in a position to sit on boards hiring upper level management at companies I can honestly say that people with the kind of backgrounds of a general are very much sought after. I can see where the armed services would want to put SOME perks into their lives like slightly better housing and such. In some ways, it's actually beneficial for the military to do it because it is an incentive (other than pride of service) for lower ranking officers to try to excel.
All that being said, the case in question is ridiculous not because of the basic intent, but because of the sheer stupidity and the execution of it. I would say it almost made more sense to assign flag officers (generals) their own planes than to construct special plugins for standard mil transport. Also, just from a purely moral standpoint, it seems to make more sense that on those rare occassions when a flag officer cant get their own transport and has to fly "with the troops", that they sit and "gasp" interact with the guys. If I was a soldier I think it be very motivating to see some general sitting next to me schleping in the same horrible military transport flight I am.
So, I'm kind of split on this one. On the one hand, it's a commonly accepted thing that being the boss means responsibility and the occassional perks of leadership, on the other, what a badly executed plan from start to finish and in the end this particular perk does nothing more than send the message to the troops that flag officers think they are "too good" to associate with the lower ranks from time to time.
I am with you that the comfort capsule thing is really off the rails, but to expect someone with at least a bachelors degree and 20 years or more experience to live by the same standards as some recruit who (maybe) graduated high school is kind of naive. If that's the expectation then there is no way the military can recruit and keep higher quality officers in any significant quantity.
Also, I know a couple of high level officers because my dad was one and it isn't like Patton or George Washington. Modern flag officers do spend most of their time in meetingg and traveling, pretty much the same as any high up in a corporation. That being said, I don't think the image of some general leading the charge on the ground exactly applies anymore when most of their time is spent looking at excel spreadsheets and such.
And maybe they can get a video I-Pod if they're really good.
LOL.
Next up: comfort women or boys.
Because we certainly wouldn't want them to threaten having to find employment elsewhere, like maybe the competition.
http://thesebastards.blogspot.com/2008/07/your-...
http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_ar...
Yea, escort the former first couple away from the Inaugural ceremony in one of these...seal it and bury it.
is by far, the most ideologically-right-wing/fundamentalist Xtian-Driven branch of the American Armed Forces.
This item is so telling as to the TRUE, corrupt, immoral, rotten nature of that entire far-right-Xtian mindset.
"The Handmaid's Tale" portrayal was far gentler and more just than the ACTUAL place these rightwing shits would take our country, if they can.