A Modest Proposal or Two
I don’t normally do a late column but a couple of things caught my attention.
First, the only DFAC (Dining Facility) on Ft. Leavenworth is closed due to the shutdown. A) this points to a major flaw in the “let the civilians run it” – unlike soldiers who can be ordered to work with deferred or no pay, civilians tend to work on a “no pay, no work” basis. B) THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! junior troops get no rations pay if they use the DFAC. If there is no DFAC, they have to go off-post to eat… with what money? They are getting screwed both ways. Not to mention the Leavenworth chain of command should never have allowed this to happen without raising hell all the way to Washington. Task & Purpose
So, a couple of small suggestions:
1) Congress neatly provided for their OWN pay, I am told. Trump seems to think anything can be done by executive order (just like Biden and Obama did – let’s lay fault where it lies, with all of them.) Rescind their pay. No salary, no medical benefits, no government transport, no aides’ pay (let’s see how long THEY work payless!). Oh, and freeze their assets temporarily. No income of ANY kind as long as the shutdown lasts.
2) The FAA is grounding 10% of commercial flights, right? Ground all private passenger jets. Takes an air traffic controller as long to handle Bill Gates’ or John Travolta’s jets as it does that United flight full of family folks. And according to NewsNation’s Leland Vittert there are about 1000 private jets in the air at any one time. The folks renting or owning private jets aren’t the working folks, they are more likely wealthy and probably political donors. Meaning connected. And not wanting to share a cramped economy row with you or me.
If you look at the list of airports where the FAA wants the flight reductions, 39 of the 40 are public airports and only one is private (Teterboro, if you care.) So the rich and private-jet folks are not really affected by the flight reductions… let’s correct that omission. H/t to Vittert for the suggestion. Mediaite
We common folks aren’t budging whichever party you blame for the shutdown at this point. Let’s put some pressure on Congress’ owners, sponsors, donors folks who actually influence the shutdown. Might oughta suggest that in any future shutdown, Congress will be made to hurt starting Day One, not a month later. May be a fantasy… but I like it.
UPDATE
Yesterday, Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced the No Shutdown Paychecks to Politicians Act and the Withhold Member Pay During Shutdowns Act, both of which would prevent members of Congress from collecting pay — including back pay — during a government shutdown. Kennedy needed unanimous consent, but Paul objected, arguing that federal employees should be paid first.Mediaite II
Rand Paul killed it… remember that.
Absolutely!
Doesn’t Rand Paul try to portray himself as fiscally responsible?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/11/trump-slams-rand-paul-opposing-senator-john-kennedys/
Rand really annoys me sometimes. Not quite jump him while he’s doing yard work and beat his ass annoyance, but more like doing the flaming dog poo on his front porch trick annoyance.
Watch him stomp it out from a not too far distance.
No, you run around back and ring THAT doorbell. He’s pissed off from the flaming bag, that odds are, he’ll run through the house with his smoking, shitty shoes to catch that sumbitch that played the prank on him. Now, me being me, I’d have a second flaming bag of poop waiting for him as he’s looking out his back dooor…
https://youtu.be/cMSWrsk8Wlo?si=rgYF5uIKGdMalgOv
You would be fun to hang out with. Reminds me of some of my hooligan friends I ran with as a yout.
Imagine what this bunch of devious old bastids could come up with. County better have a really big cell!
Not sure if it was real, but there was an alleged case of the wife on the phone with the cops, due to the husband having stomped out a burning bag of doggie doo in his socks…. due to his shoes not being dry yet from stomping out the first burning bag of doggie doo….. certainly plausable, as I work with people like that….
The 27th amendment means sen John Kennedy’s proposal is unconstitutional
Which means he is grand standing.
Twenty-Seventh AmendmentNo law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened
So, not unconstitutional, just won’t ever happen.
I am surprised the DFAC is shut down, unless we’ve already gone past the paid contract period (usually 6-8 weeks). Makes me wonder who is feeding Huachuca right now. Inexcusable bullshit that needs a lot of answers from every CSM on post.
I believe the CG could order soldiers to staff and run the DFAC. Old-style KP.
Were I CO, I would be asking forgiveness, not permission.
Can that CG just snap his fingers and order up cooks? KP is one thing, producing meals is another.
Just make scrambled eggs, baco/sausage for breakfast, bologna sandwiches and chips for lunch, burgers, beans and coleslaw for dinner. Sorry folks, but those are your choices until the idiots get off there ass and actually produce something that benefits Americans, and not the free loaders from other countries.
Do NOT let Schumer cook the burgers.
Toss in a rack of pounders and you just
described the average American diet.
I’ve eaten worse, even when there was funding.
I’ll go further.
Since the Dems don’t want the government open and they are still getting paid maybe we can do something different.
Make them work at the VA cleaning bed pans or they can work at the DFAC serving the troops.
If their legislative aides are getting paid maybe they need to have their checks cut off.
Senator Thune should keep them in session until they pass a bill. Lock the doors so they can’t leave, not even a bathroom break.
Did not Caligula do something with the senators’ wives to earn some coin? Why not have all the ones who voted against the bill take a turn rowing the ship?
Second the motion!
This is the reason why the Chow Hall, Barracks, and Base Housing need to be moved back under control of the military.
Chow Hall closed, no fucking excuse for that. Substandard housing and barracks conditions no fucking excuse. Repairs/mediation put off, no fucking excuse.
Fire the companies, lining their pockets and overseeing these entities and put military personnel back in charge, and let us take care of ourselves like we use to do.
I haven’t used the F word that many times in a row since I was deployed and I told my commander to keep a certain E-9 away from my equipment or else. He raised his eyebrows at my threat, told him fix or I will my way.
Maybe it’s time we all write letters to our congress critters and voice our disgust over how our military is treated, while these companies get rich.
Mike
USAF Retired
They are under control of the military. The military has decided not to use that control but instead hired contractors/scapegoats to do those unglamorous, unmilitary, but necessary jobs and take the blame. If those contractors are not fulfilling the terms of the contract negotiated by the military there are remedies, but that would require the ossifers to actually do their jobs.
For those who are at least mildly curious about the mess hall at Ft. Leavenworth—
https://home.army.mil/leavenworth/my-fort/all-services/dining-facility#qt0:2
Part of the problem is obviously that the government is breaching their end of the contract by not paying. It’s far from all the civvies’ fault.
When the f*ck did the mess hall get a drive through?
When did they start serving spouses & dependents– at a discount?
That looks just like the dining facility at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas but with no drive through. Cooks and servers were enlisted and cashiers civilian.
Stayed a week at the huge new hotel on base while visiting my sister. DFAC was on the next block. Only hassle, other than Las Vegas highway traffic backups, was you have to renew your hotel reservation every 3 days.
Amen!
Makes me wonder if any military cooks are even assigned there to staff the dining hall.
Probably not. Huachuca has two DFACs, no Army cooks. Thunderbird DFAC is all civilian since 11th SIG left.
There is an obscure provision of law called “The Feed and Forage Act” that allows the armed forces to “incur obligations” (that is, issue an IOU, buy on credit, issue a requisition) without Congressional approval if needed for the feed for servicemembers and the forage of their animals. Passed in 1861, the primary purpose of the Act was keep the horses and mules from starving if the Congress delayed making the required appropriations.
See: 41 U.S.C. § 6301 or just Google “Feed and Forage Act.
Feed the horses and mules first!
as opposed to the horses’ asses – wait, they already made sure they got paid no matter what.