…and the band played on
I REALLY hate to find myself on the side of Jerold “The Waddler” Nadler, but in the age of military budget cuts, I think the military bands come in last place for funding in my book (from Stars & Stripes);
Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, sponsor of the amendment to the $649 billion defense bill, said the cut to the band budget wouldn’t save taxpayers any money nor would it reduce the Pentagon budget. He called the bands “an integral part of the patriotism that keeps our soldiers’ hearts beating fast.”
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., questioned the wisdom of protecting the band budget when other programs, including food stamps and aid, faced deep reductions.
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve never played a musical instrument past the fifth grade, I don’t know anyone who has ever been in a military band and I have been known to hate being on the parade field while the band was playing. That being said, I think Republican John Carter is FOS. Not only reducing spending on military bands will save taxpayers money, the bands don’t make my heart beat faster, except at the thought of standing in the heat or the rain while some general blathers on about nothing.
I’m pretty sure we’d all rather do without bands than without health care or bullets for training or war.
Category: Congress sucks
Problem is, Jonn, that Fat Bastard wasn’t talking about healthcare or other stuff for those in uniform, he was talking about gimmes for the moocher class. You and I both know if he could, he and Bwaney Fwank would leave the DoD without a dime.
Band solution: Go service-wide with the band implementation at Corry Station, Pensacola, where it’s a collateral duty taken on by volunteers.
I’m glad you brought this up. I, ahem, dated a Marine trumpet player for a short time and often wonder why the bands haven’t been cut back. The MARFORPAC band often travels to places like Cambodia, Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos, etc to play for events hardly related to the US… Seems a little excessive to me!
Funny how Fatass Nadler (who also smells as bad as he looks — I know from my days when I worked in the NYS Assembly and had to ride the elevator with the greasy bastard) and are against CERTAIN musicians when it comes to balancing the budget.
Maybe we should move them into the National Endowment for the Arts budget line. You know, the one where people get paid to stand on the flag, put crucifixes in piss, and show homosexual men urinating in each other’s mouths.
I say keep the military bands and defund the NEA.
Amy touches on the true value of the bands: diplomacy. Both inside and outside the US, the bands represent us as Americans and as service members. If the budget cuts the divisional bands, we’ll live – the services bands? Keep ’em – they’re worth millions in foreign aid, recruiting adverts, and while this POTUS hates the military, they remind everyone in DC that we do exist.
And I get – too much time on the parade deck, and never anything interesting.
I agree with Adirondack Patriot. Those military musicians are recruited, with few exceptions, out of music schools and there is quite a selection process they have to go through to be accepted. I know, as I had considered it, being a music major in college.
This sick bastard Nadler is talking about reductions in entitlement (read welfare) programs and somehow equating that with military bands. Screw him.
If he was interested in REAL: savings, he would support a Federal law that prohibited ANY welfare benefits to ANYONE who is NOT a US Citizen.
Hell, just cutting off all that welfare support to illegals would save the military from ANY budget cuts.
He doesn’t mention a word, either, about the millions and millions given out by the feds to support national and state orchestras, symphony or ballet/dance groups either. Screw him.
Defund the NEA, all support of Public Radio/TV and all benefits to illegals. Then let’s see if anything else should be cut.
Keep the bands. They are a part of our traditions, and once we start down that road, who knows what will be next?
Kinda also goes along with the Blue Angels/Thunderbirds, Golden Knights/Leapfrogs, etc. The main purpose is public awareness and recruiting.
Yup: When the bands go, that opens up a whole Pandora’s box. The military doesn’t NEED their flight/parachute demo teams. Heck, Congress could also rule that no one NEEDS to live off base or eat outside the galley/mess hall, DFAC, whatever.
Seriously: the government could save billions by stripping away BAQ/BAS, medical support for dependents, schools for dependents on overseas bases, or any base, enlisted and officer clubs, movie halls, swimming pools, gyms, etc. Heck, they could even shut down the whole Exchange system too.
The military doesn’t NEED any of that, per se. But it certainly helps make up for the lack of pay and the physical, financial and emotional sacrifices that our military makes as a part of their job.
Besides, the band provides TOC security when the division deploys. Seriously, as a recruiter we had a band special mission and less than one in ten even had a chance of passing muster with the crusty old warrant who ran the auditions.
Look, we simply can’t be outdone by the Germans when it comes to military bands.
Check this out. It’s a recent performance.
It’s a hybrid somewhere between the 1936 Nurenburg Rallies and Woodstock.
It seems you don’t know much about what military bands do or who they are. If you were paying attention, Congress just INCREASED defense spending. Oh, and so you were one of those who actually bought Congresswoman McCollum’s reference that we shouldn’t be spending money on military bands while children are going hungry and senior citizens are being denied healthcare. Can you say naive? Try it a couple of times real slow and after about 50 times you will probably be able to say it just fine. Military bands funding is nothing. Less than 5 one hundredths of one percent of the military budget. The U.S. military has literally lost more money than that just in Afghanistan this past year. Congress threw a distractor of cutting military bands by 37.5% and people like you believed it was representative of being fiscally responsible. Oh My! Please. A cap on military bands spending. Really? Most of military bands cost is personnel. Compare that with costs in the Air Force or just about any portion of the military. One F-35A costs more than funding the entire 5,000-odd person bands all over the world. (and that’s without the new improved engine the House wanted to fully fund!) Perspective. We’re talking about jobs here. But what we’re really talking about is a classic form of misdirection. In the end, they are increasing spending again…Don’t be fooled into jumping on the “band wagon” and crying “down with frivolous spending on bands and NASCAR.” If you think that the government’s right hand will know what its left hand is doing, you should think again. Military bands are firmly on the chopping block and you are one of the pitchfork-wielding townsfolk who are crying “off with their heads!.” For my money, military bands represent a great musical heritage who have been a part of the military since before America was a nation. They remain valuable in paying respects to fallen warriors, performing concerts for the public, and burying veterans. They entertain troops in combat and are unique ambassadors to the public both at home and abroad. Congratulations for… Read more »