This is seriously pathetic: American sailors cough up their own money to keep fleet going

[unhappycamper]

Hull Maintenance Technician Fireman Brandon Oesch works in the repair shop aboard the carrier Nimitz. Readers tell Navy Times they often don't have time or command funds to buy parts through official channels.


Sailors report footing bill for needs on ships
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 30, 2009 6:19:14 EST

Chief Machinist’s Mate (SW/AW) Michael Seger was tired of his sailors being punished when they weren’t getting their work done on schedule. It happened over and over, and it wasn’t their fault, he said. They didn’t have the gear they needed to clean, paint spaces, or maintain their equipment by the command’s schedule.

So Seger took matters into his own hands. For years, first on the carrier Enterprise and then on the amphibious assault ship Nassau, Seger drove out to hardware stores and shopping centers to spend his own money on the stuff his sailors needed.

Between those two ships alone, Seger estimated he spent more than $4,000 of his own money “to buy everything from simple cleaning supplies that cost a few dollars to high-priced fittings for pumps that cost upwards of several hundred dollars,” he told Navy Times.

“Over almost 18 years of service, I know I am not the only one to do this, and honestly, it is simply pathetic,” Seger said.

He is far from the only one. More than 40 current and former sailors told Navy Times stories about paying for equipment with their own money, a practice they described as common and often necessary to keep ships in fighting shape. Many active-duty sailors asked not to be identified because they worried about being disciplined for discussing shortages or management problems in their current commands.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/11/navy_gear_113009w/

[Fumesucker]

1. Meanwhile private contractors are raking in the big dough for fucking things up..

What a surprise.. :eyes:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=259x27695

[Echo In Light]

23. +1

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

[Fleshdancer]

3. HOW is this even possible?

My head is exploding right now.

[dkf]

4. If he had bought it through Navy channels it would have probably cost.

10x that too.

[madokie]

5. Sounds like bullshit to me

purdeeole bullshit

[MineralMan]

7. Nope. It happens all the time.

Usually it's for small parts that are obtainable on the local market when you need them, rather than waiting for months for common stuff.

[madokie]

10. I spent a tour in the navy

and I never heard, seen, or had to myself do anything of the likes. I call bullshit on this story. If it's true then someone isn't doing his job and needs to be booted our on their ass.
once again I call bullshit on this

[MineralMan]

14. So, because you didn't see something, it never happens?

Is that your story? Well, I'm telling you about something that happened all the time, something seen with my own eyes. Am I a liar?

[madokie]

15. I'm saying I call bullshit on that story

I'm not calling you anything but I'm telling you I have my doubts about 'something that happened all the time.' I'd have to know what that something is though if you don't mind telling me.

[Kaleva]

18. On my first ship, would make runs to Radio Shack to get parts.

My work center supervisor would give me the money (his own) to purchase the parts.

[MineralMan]

22. See my post in the next subthread, and the post

immediately following yours. Guys have always done this to get things fixed. You need a small part, and it isn't in the ships' stores? You go to the hardware store or wherever and buy one. Broke your last 5/32" HSS drill bit? You can wait a month for one or go buy the damned thing.

Same thing with tools. You need a 7/16" wobble socket to get at that particular bolt head? None in the toolbox? Not available through channels? No sweat. The nearest parts store has one for $6. You buy it to make your job easier.

Were you a maintenance guy? Did you do repairs? If not, you don't have any information.

[StreetKnowledge]

29. It's True.

My uncle was in the engineering department of USS Iowa in the mid-1980s. The big brute got a $500 million refit before being recommissioned in 1984, but even after that they still had to buy parts for the thing themselves, simply because if they needed parts it took forever to get them through official channels. In the case of Iowa and her sisters, they had to scrounge parts for museum ships and other vessels in some cases, too.

[MineralMan]

6. Nothing new here. Back in 1967, when I was stationed in

Turkey, the techs used to order small parts to repair the sophisticated electronics we used there from Allied Electronics, paying for them out of their own pockets. Getting parts through official channels took months, even for a simple resistor or capacitor.

If they hadn't bought the parts themselves, most of the stuff would have been down most of the time. Finally, they started diverting the coffee fund to parts buying. Everyone chipped in for coffee, which was always available in the repair shop. So they used that money.

[phasma ex machina]

13. Interesting. News to me. Thanks for sharing. nt

[JVS]

8. Maybe they should hold a bake sale. "Defense" gets too much money already.

:nopity:

[n2doc]

9. Now, if the items were marked up 10000% he could have easily procured them

through standard military channels.

Typical FUBAR'ed bureaucracy.

[Kaleva]

11. Same as when it was in the late 70's.

[NYC_SKP]

12. Sailors, meet School Teachers. School Teachers, meet Sailors.

I have no less sympathy for these folks, but they are among a probably growing number workers in public service who don't have the time or patience to work within the bureaucratic system, the broken system, to get things done.

Teachers spend considerable money every month on materials that should rightly be provided to them by the school.

This includes cleaning supplies and light bulbs.

Ask any teacher you happen to know.

And thank you, sailors, for taking care of business!

K and R.

[izquierdista]

16. They spend while administrators administrate

You can tell an enterprise destined for failure when the one at the top can't be bothered to make sure the workers have everything they need for the job. If someone is too important to make sure that there is toilet paper in the bathroom, he needs to be put out to pasture.

[NYC_SKP]

19. It's become systemic, a part of the system. Admins KNOW that teachers will cover it...

...so things aren't even budgeted for.

It's a paradox, if teachers would collectively stop spending their own money, things might change, but kids would suffer.

By paying for things, sadly, teachers ensure that nothing will change.

Frustrating!

[izquierdista]

26. Expand the lien law

In the contractor world, if you don't get paid, you can slap a lien on the tightwad. If teachers could put a lien on the school, er, make that the principal's paycheck, things would change quick.

[Fumesucker]

25. I was wondering when somone was going to notice the parallels.

Thanks for pointing it out..

[rucky]

17. I wonder if Blackwater & KBR have the same problems?

[NYC_SKP]

20. Good question. You know the answer. No. n/t

[JHB]

21. Don't be so sure...

...Sure, Blackwater (or Xe, or Fnord, or whatever they're calling themselves lately) has the money, but never assume it's going to keep even their rank and file equipped.

[NYC_SKP]

24. They probably spend out of pocket for some of their liquor and old hookers.

[TexasObserver]

27. Somewhere, some contractor is being paid for the supplies they're not getting.

DOD is so corrupt it wastes billions of dollars a year and fails to get its money's worth.

[Ganja Ninja]

28. As a Navy Vet I can tell you that if it were my ship ...

That MF'er would sit until hell freezes over before I would reach into my pocket to keep it going.

[StreetKnowledge]

32. I don't think you'd want to take the risk, would you?

A ship that can't function as its supposed to usually gets the ship's CO in trouble, and he then frequently turns around and takes swipes at his guys, who then take swipes at their men, and so on. Most Navy guys I know would rather just pay out of their pocket to get the job done then risk their career by taking a stand on it.

I'm not attacking your stance, but I think a lot of Navy guys would do what this sailor did. That doesn't make it any less pathetic, mind you.

[driver8]

34. Amen!! I worked in Engineering on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower -- I don't know one guy

who would have paid for parts out of his own pocket. There is certainly no way in hell they would have paid for cleaning supplies!!

If we did not have money for parts, the equipment would not get fixed, the ship would not be ready to deploy, and heads would roll!!

[aikoaiko]

30. Same as it ever was.

and just as sad and infuriating.

[alarimer]

31. We are spending more than the rest of the world combined on the military.

Where is that money going? Enough of this off-the budget bullshit. I want the Pentagon to have to account for every red cent.

[StreetKnowledge]

33. No Argument From Me.

As the nephew, brother and grandson of Navy vets of both Canada and the United States, the fact that sailors have to pay some of the upkeep costs for the ship is beyond ridiculous. This gentleman in the story was a maintenance man on a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and those cost $200 million+ a year to operate. You telling me with that kinda budget you can't have a petty cash fund to get small things that are needed for the ship's maintenance guys to use? It's pathetic, especially since the DOD pisses so much money away on waste and fraud.

[Nikki Stone1]

35. Welcome to teaching! Teachers have been buying their own supplies for years.

What next? Construction workers will have to bring their own bricks?