SUCKING IT UP
I love doing this. That is when our vacuum is working right. Sometimes the darn bag gets too full and then it won't work till you dump the bag. I wish they had a way to fix that problem. But other than that I just love the hum of that vacuum when I'm chasing down all those dust bunnies. It gives me chills of joy all over to do my part to rid the world of dust in my own apartment. Makes being a grimefighter seem more real I guess.
Anyway, I never gave a lot of thought to the idea of how much people in the military apparently have a deal about vacuuming. I was watching this movie the other day where they had these soldiers going through what they called basic training. Not sure what you need to get trained for on the subject of basic, but all I know is with these soldier dudes it meant a lot of sweating and marching and junk like that.
And then in the middle of this one part where those guys who they call privates, which I got no idea why since they did everything publicly, where told by this guy with stripes who yelled a lot to 'suck it up.' Well all I can say is that guy might have made it easier if he had at least once handed them a vacuum. But I never saw any vacuum.
Plus they could have really used one. I mean they had all these bombs exploding and making one heck of a mess. If there was ever a place that could have benefited from a vacuum of some kind it was this place.
So I can only assume when he was doing all that "sucking it up" yelling somewhere he kept a whole bunch of vacuums and plan on letting them use them later. Not sure quite how good they would have worked out there with all the trees and junk seeing how they didn't have any electrical outlets anywhere, but I guess he kept plenty of extension cords somewhere.
Boy I got to give them soldiers credit too. I can't imagine trying to vacuum while shooting a rifle with one hand and also taking time to duck when somebody was shooting back.
Makes me wonder if all the armies operate that way. I guess that world work. Maybe it is a good thing. I heard them talking about what they called the Military Industrial Complex. That sure sounds awful big. And what with having both army and a bunch of factories is bound to create some kind of mess.
I wonder who the poor guy is that has to clean it up. I bet it has to be one of those privates who really isn't all that private. Probably was what they meant by "KP." I'm assuming the K was meant to stand for 'klean.' Yeah, they probably thought they were being clever by making it klean private or something.
Well, I don't mind vacuum, but I sure wouldn't want any part of that KP thing. Heck, it is enough of a hassle just cleaning up my own mess who wants to clean up somebody else's mess too? Plus when you got all those army dudes and factory workers running around I can imagine that would leave some really dirty rest rooms, not to mention a few clogged toilets.
posted by William Robbins @ 8:11 AM
2 Comments:
Your post has some excellent satire. Here's some real data:
The Department of Defense, headquartered in the Pentagon, is one of the most massive organizations on the planet, with net annual operating costs of $635 billion, assets worth $1.3 trillion, liabilities of $1.9 trillion and more that 2.9 million military and civilian personnel as of fiscal year 2005.
I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.
It is difficult to convey the complexity of the way DOD works to someone who has not experienced it. This is a massive machine with so many departments and so much beaurocracy that no president, including Bush totally understands it.
Presidents, Congressmen, Cabinet Members and Appointees project a knowledgeable demeanor but they are spouting what they are told by career people who never go away and who train their replacements carefully. These are military and civil servants with enormous collective power, armed with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, Defense Industrial Security Manuals, compartmentalized classification structures and "Rice Bowls" which are never mixed.
Our society has slowly given this power structure its momentum which is constant and extraordinarily tough to bend. The cost to the average American is exhorbitant in terms of real dollars and bad decisions. Every major power structure member in the Pentagon's many Washington Offices and Field locations in the US and Overseas has a counterpart in Defense Industry Corporate America. That collective body has undergone major consolidation in the last 10 years.
What used to be a broad base of competitive firms is now a few huge monoliths, such as Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Boeing.
Government oversight committees are carefully stroked. Sam Nunn and others who were around for years in military and policy oversight roles have been cajoled, given into on occasion but kept in the dark about the real status of things until it is too late to do anything but what the establishment wants. This still continues - with increasing high technology and potential for abuse.
Please examine the following link to testimony given by Franklin C. Spinney before Congress in 2002. It provides very specific information from a whistle blower who is still blowing his whistle (Look him up in your browser and you get lots of feedback) Frank spent the same amount of time as I did in the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) but in government quarters. His job in government was a similar role to mine in defense companies. Frank's emphasis in this testimony is on the money the machine costs us. It is compelling and it is noteworthy that he was still a staff analyst at the Pentagon when he gave this speech. I still can't figure out how he got his superior's permission to say such blunt things. He was extremely highly respected and is now retired.
http://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/spinney_testimony_060402.htm
The brick wall I often refer to is the Pentagon's own arrogance. It will implode by it's own volition, go broke, or so drastically let down the American people that it will fall in shambles. Rest assured the day of the implosion is coming. The machine is out of control.
If you are interested in a view of the inside of the Pentagon procurement process from Vietnam to Iraq please check the posting on this blog entitled, "Odyssey of Armaments"
http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2006/11/odyssey-of-armaments.html
On the same subject, you may also be interested in the following sites from the "Project On Government Oversight", observing it's 25th Anniversary and "Defense In the National Interest", insired by Franklin Spinney and contributed to by active/reserve, former, or retired military personnel.
http://pogo.org/
http://www.d-n-i.net/top_level/about_us.htm
Thank you for leaving a comment. You have some very interesting insights.
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