This is true; heard one of the big muckety-mucks talking recently about understanding the difference between defense spending and military spending. Military spending, of course, referring to the $500 toilet seats of lore.
The F-22 Raptor, 187 were built at a cost of 350 million per jet. Never flown a combat mission. But yet all the waste is in entitlement programs. Give me a break.
The Raptor is not a waste. Building 400 of them would be, but not 187. The waste is in the tail of the dragon, not the teeth. Like the unwanted bases that politicians won't let the pentagon close. Or the unwanted jet engine politicians wanted kept. Or the amazingly wasteful National Guard which needs to be downsized to a lean reserve fighting force and emergency service provider instead of the bloated, overpaid, wasteful weekend warrior organization that it has become. Full veterans benefits for combat service is warranted, but full veterans benefits for fat master sergeants who have only been hanging around armories for 20 years seems a bit much.
You have a real nice perception of the reserve forces. I'm sure there are a few "fat master sergeants" that would love to show you otherwise.
High-Priced F-22 Fighter Has Major Shortcomings - washingtonpost.com 30 hours of maintenance for every hour in the sky?
