Originally posted by GySgt:
Again, you are falling in league with a Political Party's agenda. Haliburton is not the only government contract that eats away at our funding....
1 - The Marine Corps used to control and maintain our own computer Internet systems. Because the Navy could not get their sytems together...they contracted out to a company called NMCI. Because the Marine Corps is "Department of the Navy," this contract bled into our world. Now everytime a unit goes to the field and individuals take their laptops to connect to the field system, it costs us $350.00 dollars a computer, because the contract demands that we pay everytime we move the connection from their sytem to ours. What it cost us before this contract......$0.00. Further, we are unable to aid anybody that is having a computer problem, because of the contract. Initially, we were to lose this ability in the field also, because the contract called for NMCI support in the field. What made that go away was that NMCI didn't want to pay their employees to have to deploy with us.
2 - The Blackberries that I have in my inventory cost us cheaper to initially buy, but when one needs replaced it costs us $950.00 each where a civillian that walks into Verizon can buy it for $480.00. We are constantly in the field and civillian gear is easily broken. We pay this extra amount, because we are "receiving a special attention fee," but in reality it is simply that the contract demands more money. My "special attention" is an operator that answers, "Government Contract Support" when I call to get one serviced.
3 - The new tan Flak jackets we received just prior to the 2003 invasion allowed us to insert SAPI or Ballistic Plates in them. Our vital organs (except for kidneys) are not only shrapnel protected, now we are bullet proof. The Government Contract payed the company that makes our Flak Jacket and requested as much to made as possible. The SAPI Plates were made by another company, thus an entirely different contract. This company was also asked to churn out as many as possible in a fast fashion - they did not comply. Since Marines and soldiers come in different sizes, so do our Flak jackets and thus would our SAPI Plates. After a couple years, the seams in many of the Flak Jacket pockets were pulling apart, because the SAPI Plates were just a little to big to easily fit inside the pockets. We crammed them in for a very snug fit. This wasn't detrminental to the service of the Jacket, but the government demanded that the company fix this problem for future jackets. What was found out was that because the company was asked to make as many as possible as fast as possible, they cut corners. Of course this didn't matter to them since the contract demanded expedient turn around. The price per Flak Jacket went up and even though the existing Jackets were recalled (Mine was among the stock numbers), the Government payed a special fee to have them destroyed or recycled through the company, because this company wouldn't simply repair them for us.
4 - One of the reasons that fratricide is no where near a big consideration like it was during the Gulf War is GLINT Tape. Glint Tape comes in a small roll about the size of a roll of Duct Tape. This tape appears yellowish during the day and is unseen at night by the naked eye. However, to the pilots over head who are looking down on a desert floor, they see hundreds of little pieces of tape conducting missions. Each individual gets three or four little square inch pieces to place on his shoulders and helmet. The reason they get so little is because each roll cost just shy of $900.00 each, because this is what the lowest civilian bidder could do for us. How much does a roll of Duct Tape cost?
This is just four quick "off the top of my head" examples. There are hundreds of Government contracts where we are raped from our funds by civillian companies. Like I said before, when we are deployed, we frequently get better and cheaper support from the local communities. Haliburton receives attention only because of the war and because the Democratic Party can throw it in the public's vision for their own political agendas. Haliburton has been working with the military for a long time. I believe since '92? There is far worse going on with regards to Government Contracts than just Haliburton.