Privatizing Military Logistics ------

[Montagnard]

Cspan just finished a Washington Journal segment with a guest from IPOA, which is an association of contractors that handle various aspects of the military function and support.

I was wondering if anyone else that happened to see this segment was struck with the thought that our government now has “Milo” handling our war machine. The IPOA representative ended the segment by stating that this sort of “out-sourcing” was being done by several other countries and that all countries would need to operate in the same manner if they were to be viable militarily.

Again, I was struck by the fact that with this “Milo” approach that at some time in the future, our sub-contractor will be bombing their sub-contractor which in reality both sub-contractors will be owned by the same parent corporation. “Milo” was just ahead of his time.

"Taste this....its cotton covered with chocolate."

http://www.ipoaonline.org/home/

[acmejack]

1. Military logistics has been a huge profit ctr for the last 40 yrs or so

For all the usual suspects, GE, Lock-Mar, etc, it is known as ILS, Integrated Logistics Support and it is where all the money is made off of a contract. Often the equipment is a break-even proposition, but the training and support, upgrades, repair and upkeep is the real moneymaker. Depot level repair alignment and calibration especially is a huge profit center.

Been there, done that...

[Kingofalldems]

2. Does the army cook it's own food?

Don't tell me there are no more mess sergeants.

[larrysh]

4. I as wondering the same thing......

Are there Mess Sergeants anymore? All young soldiers should have to
opportunity to be greeted by the mess hall cooks first thing in the morning....The first morning in my basic training unit, I made the mistake of saying, "Morning Mess Sergeant!" As a brand new private,
just 24 hours old, I did not yet know just how low a sub-creature I was.
That Mess Sergeant let me know in a New York minute just how low I was!!!

[Sailor for Warner]

3. I tell you though

Ive had some of that Kellog, Brown, & Root food that the guys are getting in Iraq and it sure is good. Way better than the slop weve been getting.

[me b zola]

6. Slop?

On which Naval facility or ship have you been serving that you've been eating slop? Sailors generally eat pretty good. Shit, once in Virgina we had steak & lobster.

Although I'm glad that at some bases in Iraq GI's are eating good food, GI's also have to escort KBR's goods. How many of our GI's have died protecting private contractor's assests?

Here's a link to Frontline's documentary 'Private Warriors'. The OP's reference to Catch 22's Milo seems fitting.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/warriors/view/


My father was a ball & turret gunner in WWII. I think the food they ate was really the least of his worries when he was stationed in Africa and Italy---and they managed to get the job done w/o three flavors of ice cream.

[Lars39]

9. Lot's of nice clean water, too, huh?

[patdem]

5. Why would they want to END a war if they are making money off of it?

It seems to me, since corporations are ONLY interested in the bottom line and their stock prices, they would want to maintain a high level of war and not peace. Am I missing something here? Is there a BONUS system for doing it correctly? and a FINE if they get it wrong and prolong an operation? This makes no F*cking sense to me! Cooking food is one thing but BEING IN CHARGE OF PROVIDING our troops the STUFF it takes to WIN seems counterproductive to their bottom line?

[me b zola]

7. Your reference to Milo is apropos

"...struck with the thought that our government now has “Milo” handling our war machine." Indeed.

I missed the WJ segment that you are referring to. It seems like they are collectively doing a little PR this morning. KBR had a little segment on cnn, seemed to be a "feel good" piece meant for us to be comforted by their presence at home and abroad.

[FloridaPat]

8. Bushco did this the first year they were in office. Several troops

died from dehydration during the first months of the invasion because the military supplies move with the troops, but civilians don't necessarily go with the troops into war zones. So they couldn't get enough water for everyone. Then there are the reports of bad water and bad food.