Hagel to beg for personnel cuts

| February 23, 2014

AW1Ed sends us a link from Fox News that reports Chuck Hagel, the Secretary of Defense is going to Congress tomorrow to beg for massive cuts to personnel costs in the Defense Department, including cutting the growth of pay, increases in retirees’ out-of-pocket healthcare costs and cuts to housing allowances. I don’t see any other department heads lining up in front of Congress to slash personnel costs in their particular departments. But, there’s Hagel, the former enlisted soldier, begging Congress to screw the shit out of his employees.

“This is a real uphill battle with Congress,” said Mieke Eoyang, a former Democratic congressional aide and director of the National Security Program at Third Way, a centrist think tank in Washington.

“God bless [Mr. Hagel] for trying to get a handle on these costs,” she said. “But in this political environment, in an election year, it’s going to be hard for members of Congress to accept anything that’s viewed as taking benefits away from troops.”

Pentagon officials say that they recognize the political realities, but emphasize that declining military spending makes trimming costs even more important this year.

Yeah, God Bless Hagel for screwing his troops, the little weasel. But, not to worry, Hagel is going to request a freeze to those six-figure general officers’ pay for a whole year, so they will be seen as sacrificing along with their troops [insert eye roll here]. I wonder if any of those civilians who are driving hard to the boards for military pay cuts are offering up their own salaries and benefits to the budget axe.

Can you imagine the EPA administrator or the Education Department director making a plea like this to Congress? To slash the pay of the stank-ass hippies who work in those agencies? Or in this foundering economy, the Executive Branch asking for smaller COLA increases? Or Congress planning to reduce their personnel costs? Seriously. Why do Americans think it’s perfectly fine to screw the troops, but leave the useless bureaucrats untouched?

Category: Big Army

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Pave Low John

It actually makes perfect sense, if you look at it from Hagel, Obama or any liberal politician’s point of view:

– The vast majority of federal employees are rabid Democrats, especially the ones clustered in D.C.

– The vast majority of military personnel, past and present, are either conservative or libertarian, but definitely not liberal democrat.

Therefore, if you’re going to screw people, screw the ones you know aren’t going to vote for your party anyway. Simple as that.

A Proud Infidel

Secretary Hagel,

FUCK YOU TO DEATH up the ass sideways with a broken broomstick and a six foot long frozen garfish while you’re sitting and spinning on a pile of diarrhea-soaked, rusty, tangled concertina wire mixed with broken glass right after you’ve been violently ass-raped by a sadistic Grizzly Bear with AIDS and the sonofabitch that was mean enough to give it to him while a pissed-off rabid Honey Badger uses your ballsack for a chew toy!!

What does it feel like when you sell your soul for political gain, you lowlife?

2/17 Air Cav

Hagel has been in the news a lot lately. He nixed another look at Peralta’s Medal of Honor possibility, invoking the criminal ‘reasonable doubt’ standard. That was USA Today on Feb 21. Fox News also featured Upchuck Hagel in pointing out that he cannot correctly state the administration’s policy on Iran nukes—not once but twice he got it wrong. And Politico says that Hagel cannot get a call through to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry after a week (!) of trying. Oh, there is no problem with the calls themselves—it’s just that they don’t want to speak with Upchuck. Can anyone blame them? What a doofus.

Mustang2LT

This fucking clown. Someone needs to take him back to his junior enlisted days and engage him in a fist to face conversation, followed by a long session of wall to wall counseling. Then, put his ass in the front leaning rest for the entire duration of any congressional hearings that he is called to testify. That’ll learn him and if it doesn’t, kick ‘im in the dick!

Mustang2LT

Oh, and if he wants cuts……how about you start with your pecker Chuck. You clearly have no need of it since you traded your balls in for this job!

Swampfox

Well, there ARE some cuts that could be made at the DoD. The Pentagon, after World War II, was supposed to be a warehouse. Instead, in 1947, we went from a Secretary of War and a Secretary of the Navy, to SecArmy, SecNavy, SecAF, and a SecDef, and all their assorted staffs and flunkies. WHY? Not to mention, the Pentagon is basically full of folks now..and there a what…a dozen or so other buildings in Alexandria that are full of various bureaucrats? How about we go back to the drawing board, SecWar, who has the Army and AF Chiefs report to him/her, and a SecNavy, who has the CNO, Commandant of the Corps report to him. Make them both Cabinet members. No more Secretaries for each branch and no more SecDef or their staffs. No more Joint Chiefs as it is now. See if we can get to a point where operationally, a door kicker is no more than seven or eight levels from the boss of their branch. How much will we save if we cut the bean counters down to size?

Mustang2LT

@6 – There you go trying to make sense of this. 🙂
You are spot on, but bureaucracies never shrink. Unfortunately, I can’t think of any government agency that was ever eliminated.

68W58

There are all sorts or DOD cuts I could get behind, but only after every other federal agency is radically slashed.

Just Plain Jason

If they cut useless projects that means that union employees lose jobs. If they cut high ranking generals from the rolls at the pentagon they will lose politicians. So fuck Joe and retirees.

Ex-PH2

Why do Americans think it’s perfectly fine to screw the troops, but leave the useless bureaucrats untouched?

Oh, it’s simple.

There is no imminent danger; there’s no real war going on; no one has fired a shot on American soil at Americans; Public Enemy No. 1 Joaquin El Chapo Guzman is now in a Mexican jail; the bases in Afghanistan are winding down, packing up, and slowly moving out.

Has anyhone found the rabbit that attacked Jimmy Carter?

Is that bunny still around? You know which one I mean. It’s this one:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=monty+python+killer+rabbit+video&FORM=VIRE2#view=detail&mid=C4F2B2597573921065C8C4F2B2597573921065C8

A Proud Infidel

“No Government ever reduces itself in size. Government Programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a Government bureau is the closest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this Earth!” – Ronald Reagan

Swampfox

@7 A long time ago, I had a company commander who screamed at us to “keep it simple stupid”. He was the first of many NCO’s who shared that belief. It stuck with me. The more layers of crap that are applied, the more complicated things get. And it needs to change.

The Other Whitey

@2 Don’t hold back, Proud, tell us how you really feel! Anyway, how’s about Chucky offers up his own paycheck before throwing those he’s supposed to represent under the bus? Regardless of his past experience, it’s pretty clear he sold his soul long ago.

Stacy0311

I’m starting to doubt that when I do retire that there will even be a check, let alone healthcare (you remember that free healthcare for life that retirees were supposed to get?)

Ex-PH2

@13 TOW, he never had a soul to sell to begin with.

Ex-PH2

@Stacy0311, put ‘wgn9′ in your search block some time. The teachers and employees of the City of Chicago are finding that, while they paid faithfully into the city’s pension funds, their pensions are being reduced by at least $700 per month.

The Illinois state teachers’ pension fund, which is the ONLY thing teachers get in this state, is so far down in the hole that it may not be able to fund the retirement of teachers who are NOW retired. Unless these teachers, who are state employees, moonlighted at jobs that deduct SocSec/Medicare taxes, they do NOT get any Social Security credit or payments.

If you think this is only confined to the military, think again. You have to set aside for yourself and not count on those crooks for anything. EVER.

NHSparky

Third Way? Centrist?

Bwwwwwaaaahahahahahaha!!!!!

David White

If you want the monkey off the backs of military personnel, start taxing the”stank ass hippie” dens that produce all the worthless government employees in DC. College and universities all over this country have trillions of dollars in endowments that are only used for political influence. What does a university need with 40 billion dollars? Also our church’s have trillions of dollars, what do they spend this money on, sure as heck not on the poor. I believe in education and I believe in God, but the major players in both education and religion have sold their souls to the devil

2/17 Air Cav

@18. I was okay until you included churches. Two points about that. First, why did you exclude synogogues, temples, and mosques? Second, why go there at all? They are not government entities, last I looked, and can do with their money what they wish.

UpNorth

For cost cutting, how about we limit each rep and Senator to one staffer, and they get their phone calls through the House or Senate switchboard? And, they pay to mail out their BS flyers.
How about Moooch gives up her staff of 18 and their combined $1Million+ salaries? How about Barrycade gets by with a press secretary and a cook and one staffer?
How about all of the cabinet level departments give up their Office of Civil Rights, or whatever they label it, and let the DoJ handle that?

B Woodman

#2 Proud Infidel
You forgot, “with a pineapple, sideways”.
Other than that, tell us how you REALLY feel.

Roger in Republic

Hagel and the whole bunch in DC need Death by Bungo! Perhaps the next time we need to project force beyond the Treasury building we can draft federal employees to ruck up and defend us. All persons on the federal payroll up to age sixty can draw a rifle and a basic load, and attack in a human wave. If they survive they can have their old jobs back when the danger has passed. The second wave will bee all of those who receive money or payment in kind from the federal coffers. In the interest of fairness and equality, females will not be exempt. The second wave will need to pick up a weapon off the battlefield. Rifles are not cheap, you know.