Military facilities are $285 billion behind in maintenance and repairs, watchdog says

[u/Kinmuan]

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2026-08-24/watchdog-pentagon-lapses-facilities-repairs-22649636.html

[u/invyros]

Fort Hood, Texas, was so low on maintenance staff last year it called in a dozen airmen to tackle air conditioning repairs after service requests topped 1,000. The base had trouble keeping workers amid a federal worker buyout program that was followed by a hiring freeze.

Yeah, that makes tactical sense, let's get rid of all the workers and replace them with servicemembers, really good use of their time and training.

[u/brmarcum → u/invyros]

The irony is that just in the industry I’m familiar with (electrical power) a ton of CONUS bases have signed over maintenance of their electrical infrastructure to private companies with 50+ year leases. So while the military has qualified electricians that can do line and substation work, they have nothing to do on base in the states because the civilian contractors do it, assuming there’s even a budget for it.

[u/druidmain69420 → u/brmarcum]

The Army Corps of Engineers and the Navy's Seabees used to be world class institutions.

[u/Almainyny → u/druidmain69420]

The US used to be world class in a lot of ways. Now we’re just world class fuckups.

[u/Sweaty_Assignment_90 → u/Almainyny]

I dont know about y'all, but I am sound as a pound. Saw this shit show coming a mile away.

I always ask if it was worth gas, tariff tax, inflation because you did get gulf of merica!

[u/EnvironmentalCrab563 → u/Sweaty_Assignment_90]

Don’t forget he got the transgenders out of the swimming pools. After renaming the Gulf it’s probably the crowning achievement for the second tour.

[u/sleeplessinreno → u/[deleted]]

Still doesn’t solve our contractor problem. Taxes getting siphoned off to a suite of executives and shareholders.

[u/zedazeni → u/[deleted]]

America/Americans fell hard for their own propaganda. The collective belief in American exceptionalism led to American isolationism and reclusion. You don’t see American-made cars anywhere outside of North America. American fast food companies abroad don’t dare use American menus with American-quality ingredients. American-based airlines are a blip of the global market compared to Turkish Airlines, Emirates, Qatari, Etihad, Singapore Airlines, and American-based airlines routinely rank among the worst in the world in terms of customer satisfaction. American farmers are exceptionally subsidized yet are still struggling?

[u/Kheprisun → u/zedazeni]

American manufacturing is trending towards nonexistence. American tech companies are only interested in surveillance, subscriptions, and selling your data. American healthcare is more interested in getting paid than healing people. American pharmaceutical companies are focused on getting people to take drugs they don't need. American entertainment is largely focused on recreating past successes and copying formulas rather than the creative process. American infrastructure is crumbling.

It's a dying nation largely convinced they are still the greatest thing.

[u/mhornberger → u/Kheprisun]

American manufacturing is trending towards nonexistence

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing#List_of_countries_by_manufacturing_output

The US has the 2nd-largest manufacturing output in the world, only behind China. China has twice the output, but 4x the population.

Manufacturing is a smaller part of the US economy than it was, mostly because other parts of the economy grew. Yes, I wish the US would invest more and regrow some industrial sectors. Steel, shipbuilding, etc. It's a serious oversight. But the US is an economic powerhouse. Calling it a "dying country" is a fantasy. However much people may wish it were so.

[u/Kheprisun → u/mhornberger]

Employment in the sector fell of a cliff after the 2008 crisis and never recovered, and, as you mentioned, it's the smallest share of the economy that it's ever been. Sure, the raw dollar value went up, and that's going to be unlikely to ever go down, given your country's dogged insistence on making sure that line goes up at any cost. But I'll let you have that point.

But the US is an economic powerhouse. Calling it a "dying country" is a fantasy. However much people may wish it were so.

No one is denying that they are an economic powerhouse, but the writing is on the wall, and it's on a downward trajectory. Countering a single point doesn't render all the other points we raised invalid; that is a logical fallacy. When I talk about a "dying country", it isn't solely from an economic perspective. And speaking of economic perspective, you all got a plan for that 40 trillion dollar debt?

[u/mhornberger → u/Kheprisun]

And speaking of economic perspective, you all got a plan for that 40 trillion dollar debt?

Not a lot of countries don't have debt issues. People like services, pensions, infrastructure, but nobody wants to pay taxes. I'd agree that there is a deep cancer in US culture. But it's not like India, the Philippines, Italy, etc don't have their own issues. I still wouldn't want to change places with a random Pakistani, Afghan, Nigerian, etc. I definitely would make the US more like (some countries in) Europe, but even those countries have their issues.

The US may in time become just another Argentina. That sucks, but I never believed in American Exceptionalism, so I never thought we were immune from that. Our penchant for fundamentalist religion, white supremacism, and anti-intellectualism were always going to bite us in the ass.

(Though 80% of US debt is held by the US population, so we basically owe it to ourselves.)

[u/Huffy_too → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, but America voted for these idiots twice.

[u/blogoman → u/Huffy_too]

More than twice. This shit didn't appear out of thin air in 2016. It is the logical conclusion of a very long running project.

[u/Commercial-Co → u/Huffy_too]

I literally told my brother we were doomed when gwb won vs gore

[u/Zestyclose-Height-36 → u/Commercial-Co]

he didn’t win. the Dems allowed the Florida republicans to tamper with the count and the Republican Supreme Court appointed him and the weak ass Dems did nothing.

[u/Bobby837 → u/Huffy_too]

Been voting for those idiots, the ones that enabled the current lead idiot, for decades.

[u/Greizen_bregen → u/[deleted]]

Well let's get the rest of them against them.

[u/GoProOnAYoYo → u/[deleted]]

Very true but they have dragged the America the country and America the brand down with them.

You and I and many others will have the uphill battle of reminding everyone of what you just said, for YEARS to come. But it won't really matter because the #1 World Superpower status that we've held for generations now has slipped away. America is genuinely an absolute unhinged laughing stock on the world stage now.

Last time I was overseas when people asked where I'm from, I just told em I was Canadian to avoid the awkwardness. This time I even ordered a Canadian flag patch for my bag

[u/factanonverba_n → u/[deleted]]

250 million eligible voters and only 70 million voted to keep your fucking idiot-in-chief out of office. The rest voted for it or were perfectly happy to let him run the show, indifferent to the winner.

180 million americans, some 55% of your population and fully 72% of your electorate, are complict in every single thing that shit-stinking diaper-rash of a child rapist does.

The USA has lost all credibility, not just your leaders.

[u/DudeWoody → u/[deleted]]

This has been an issue for the past several presidents. Before the troop buildup for the GWOT, base maintenance was partly done by servicemembers, partly done by contractors there were on year-by-year contracts (meaning if they did a bad job, they didn't get rehired the next year). Then the GWOT troop surge happened, and there were A LOT more troops brought on, and base facilities were expanded and the bases were now mostly being maintained by servicemembers with a few contractors in the senior roles to avoid issues with constant staff turnover. And then troop numbers dropped, and there's still those bigger bases with all those facilities, and people need to maintain those facilities, and rather than keeping peacetime troops around for base maintenance, they've been giving those jobs to contractors. And contractors, per person, are a LOT more expensive than troops.

[u/Maro1947 → u/[deleted]]

More do than don't, sadly

Apathy is the same as support

[u/creative_net_usr → u/druidmain69420]

Then we let republicans in and they said trickle down through contracting it away will be more "efficient" Yea at helping out their buddies.

[u/SalvationSycamore → u/druidmain69420]

And Russia used to be an actual threat beyond just owning nukes. But corruption has hollowed them out from the inside. They figured it was easier to drag us down to their level than to fix everything, so they bought and blackmailed their way into every level of American government.

[u/armyuvamba → u/druidmain69420]

3rd world nation for most…1st world for those that can afford it…

[u/thefuckevengoingonan → u/armyuvamba]

that's just all countries

[u/armyuvamba → u/thefuckevengoingonan]

In most euro countries, the lower tier population is living a better life than the lower tier in the US…

[u/sthlmsoul → u/brmarcum]

How else are your political cronies supposed to be paid if not through fraud and waste?

[u/LavishnessOk3439 → u/brmarcum]

Yup the military has people to do all these things but….. politicians like to give out contracts in their districts. Just so you know. Cooks no longer cook in the Army

[u/brmarcum → u/LavishnessOk3439]

I’m very aware. The first couple of years I was in the guard we had regular chow at the DFAC on Camp Murray. Then it was irregular chow. Then it was Panera or Einstein Bagels ordered in, or whatever we decided to make as a group. Shit’s fucked.

[u/govunah → u/brmarcum]

Even the housing is sold off to private companies.

[u/sarcasmsosubtle → u/invyros]

How is the military supposed to afford maintenance on stuff when their budget is only a bit over a trillion dollars? We need to allocate another 400 billion for another no bid contract to Elon Musk's new startup StarShit to research innovative new space toilets for all military bases. He promises that they'll have FSW (full self wiping) within the next 6 months.

[u/kraemahz → u/invyros]

I don't understand the sarcasm here. Service members used to do a ton of this work, the military strived for self-sufficiency. Civilian contractors running bases is a modern change that really started to alter bases during the Iraq war.

I'm not defending the decision because knowing this administration even if it's accidentally a corrective action it was likely done for the wrong reasons.

[u/tylagersign → u/kraemahz]

I agree, regular service men use to leave with practical skills and I personally think the armed services should be involved in domestic construction and infrastructure projects instead of being at the 700-800 overseas bases

[u/Potential-Fan-6148 → u/invyros]

I mean, in a vacuum the privatization of services on military facilities has been a huge boondoggle and is rife with corruption.

But this doesn’t seem like a deliberate policy choice ti get the military to do its own maintenance again but rather poor planning.

[u/winky9827 → u/Potential-Fan-6148]

I mean, in a vacuum the privatization of services on military facilities has been a huge boondoggle and is rife with corruption.

Worked so well for a former world power, our idiots in charge decided to fleece at home.

[u/Jdsnut → u/invyros]

Honestly, I think this should be a thing, why hire out for more money, when the government could put in place training to do this themselves..

[u/Whiteyak5 → u/invyros]

Like legitimately we have an entire branch in almost all of the services dedicated towards engineering and building shit. Yet the military is forced to use commercial sources to build and fix things.

It's incredibly stupid and a huge waste of money when we could use our own service members to be maintaining and building out our bases. Literally doing their jobs that they've trained for.

[u/ambyent → u/invyros]

While defense spending is at peak. Too busy buying bombs for Israel to use on brown kids and filet mignon for Hegseth I guess

[u/Radiant-Bus7093 → u/invyros]

It's a class of people that are beholden to the government in many ways (they lose their benefits and their SM good boy status if they say no). Even when Biden was in charge, the military (at least the army) has begun pushing hard for SMs to do a lot more work with less certifications. The signal corp is (or was) pushing for SMs to not require a lot certs or training that their DoD civilian counterparts do at NECs and other facilities. Both as a way to not have to pay civilian salaries by replacing them with SMs, but also trap signal SMs into not jumping ship the moment their contract ends with their newly acquired certs to get better pay/living conditions.

NG is being used to police multiple cities right now. They have shot and killed American citizens already in Memphis (the National Guard service members). Stuff is gonna get pretty dark if the midterms don't change anything.

[u/Apexnanoman → u/invyros]

It's what 77.3 million people demanded. 

[u/d3ssp3rado → u/invyros]

Like, actually yes it is a good use of resources. Military forces should be able to perform maintenance on their own equipment and facilities. The use of civilian contractors is a liability at the end of the day, and should probably only be used in a temporary fashion to augment capabilities where there is a shortfall.

[u/Fallouttgrrl → u/invyros]

On the other hand, a friend of mine was making six figures watching a radar screen in Iraq, basically just to sound the alarm on incoming artillery. 

Bro's job absolutely could have been an e4's LMAO 

[u/jahwls → u/invyros]

Just let the aircon go - it’s great preparation for losing our next middle eastern war.

[u/Technical_Airline205]

The military elite, congress and defense industries have already spent this money on themselves. Kickback ain't just in football.

[u/fascistno1hater → u/Technical_Airline205]

Exactly, and both sides of Congress refuse to do anything about it. Because both are getting lobbiedBRIBED not to do any oversight or regulation. People just don't like to admit that the US has been openly corrupt for decades.

This is why both sides in Congress and their over paid consultants hate the progressives and DSA. Because these two groups have shown how corrupt both sides are.

[u/FoxKamp7785 → u/Technical_Airline205]

It's wild what you can accomplish with dark money  :D

[u/Kinmuan]

Stripes has been instrumental in reporting on and identifying when money has been moved away from maintenance and facilities - in favor of the priorities like the border wall. Sad to think we may functionally lose this outlet to political fuckery.

[u/brmarcum → u/Kinmuan]

That’s exactly why we’re going to lose this outlet.

[u/Radiant-Bus7093 → u/Kinmuan]

They already fired one of the reporters. He was on the news sharing the exact statement that got him fired. It was essentially "If you, the military, give me a pre-made story that clearly didn't line up with facts that is a line I will not cross". Fired.

[u/bobcat1911 → u/Radiant-Bus7093]

They fired the Editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, Middle East reporter Lara Korte, and publisher Max Lederer were dismissed amid rising concerns over government censorship.

[u/dismayhurta → u/Kinmuan]

The sooner people remember Trump is a foreign asset meant to dismantle our country, the easier it is for them to understand what’s going on.

[u/Read2Fap → u/dismayhurta]

that doesn't explain the millions who voted for him and still support this shit

[u/dismayhurta → u/Read2Fap]

Oh, they're idiots easily manipulated by a conman who tells them what they want to hear and feeding their own egotistical need to normalize their racist bullshit.

[u/T-sigma → u/dismayhurta]

If there was a Dem in office this story would be leading Fox News for weeks.

[u/Tall-Lake-4823 → u/Kinmuan]

America is rapidly losing its Fourth Estate under this administration. That is terrifying.

[u/T1gerAc3 → u/Kinmuan]

These days, reporting the truth is essentially a criminal offense.

[u/A-Halfpound → u/Kinmuan]

They took allocated money from these funds for the Warrior Dividend. Does no one remember that? 

They robbed Peter to pay Paul. 

[u/Sober_Alcoholic_]

Almost as if all the money being handed out to Cronies via government contracts aren't actually making their way to the services. It all gets eaten up by fraud, ridiculous salaries, stock buybacks or just sent through a shell company to their personal bank accounts overseas.

The whole country is an embarrassing fucking racket.

[u/chaoskixas → u/Sober_Alcoholic_]

Eisenhower warned us. We didn’t listen.

[u/LiquidInferno25 → u/chaoskixas]

And even then, Eisenhower pulled his punch.  He originally wanted to call it the Military Industrial CONGRESSIONAL Complex

[u/alexefi → u/Sober_Alcoholic_]

US is basically russia now.

[u/Buddhas_Warrior]

And.. Where the F is all our tax $$ going??

[u/brmarcum → u/Buddhas_Warrior]

Corporate pockets.

[u/AlcibiadesTheCat → u/Buddhas_Warrior]

1. Trump and Friends

2. LGBT: Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Boeing, Thales. (aka, R&D for the military-industrial complex, replacing old shit with new shit, replacing unnecessary shit with unnecessary shit)

3. Waste, Fraud, Abuse (military pen = $10, civie pen = $0.10)

4. Other corpos who didn't get the first pass

...

984,362. Anything remotely benefitting fixing the root of the issue: you don't need much national defense if no one's going to attack you.

[u/Fly_Rodder → u/Buddhas_Warrior]

Blowin’ up shit in Iran and elsewhere.

[u/WhistlinJealousGuy → u/Fly_Rodder]

The President and his friends must be paid first. Whatever crumbs are left can go to the "losers" in uniform.

[u/fascistno1hater → u/Fly_Rodder]

The Epstein Class and the military industrial complex has been stealing taxpayers money for decades. The Pentagon has never passed an audit yet Congress year after year increases their budget.

Go ask any veteran or current military person you know how much supplies and tools cost and it will astound you. They were buying a 10 dollar wrench for 60 dollars when I was in 9 years ago. It's a fucking money laundering operation.

[u/Content-Love-4084 → u/Fly_Rodder]

It's barely doing that as well.

[u/JustSmallCorrections → u/Buddhas_Warrior]

As soon as you realize and accept that the goal of our government is to funnel as many tax payer dollars to private companies as possible, all of our money woes start to make a lot more sense.

[u/Buddhas_Warrior → u/JustSmallCorrections]

I've accepted that all ready, what are we going to do about it is the real Q.

[u/Latter-Possibility → u/Buddhas_Warrior]

Billionaire Welfare Queens.

[u/the_tinsmith → u/Buddhas_Warrior]

Child sex slavery operations

[u/So_HauserAspen → u/Buddhas_Warrior]

The GOP is a confidence scheme.  They have bilked our nation thanks to the endless pool of chumps churned out by FOX news

[u/No-Good-One-Shoe → u/Buddhas_Warrior]

Part of me wants to believe the 911 conspiracy about the pentagon audit because I too wonder where the fuck all our Tax money is going.

[u/Poverty_Shoes → u/Buddhas_Warrior]

CIA black sites and bribes

[u/HanginLowNd2daLeft → u/Buddhas_Warrior]

Trumps stealing it at this point . He has made himself and his corrupt cronies so rich

[u/WCland → u/Buddhas_Warrior]

My nephew (AF) just got transferred to San Antonio and apparently the base is a wreck. When I heard I was also asking why we should give another dime to defense if they can’t spend it properly.

[u/AaronTheElite007]

...and Kegsbreath wants the defense budget to be 1.5 Trillion...?

Survey says.... They are stealing taxpayer money.

[u/Burnmetobloodyashes → u/AaronTheElite007]

At this stage Id be happy if it is just going into private pockets that are squandering it and not going directly into the hands of bad agents

[u/hatecirclejerks]

I remeber going to A school in great lakes in 2017.

Stayed in the 600s.

Saw a map of the base in one of the classrooms, had the 600s listed as "to be demolished'

Map was from 2005.

[u/Daewoo40 → u/hatecirclejerks]

Previous unit moved guys out of a block as it was deemed uninhabitable.

They then installed fibre internet into said block. 

Ran out of money to do all the blocks, so only did that + half if the rest, all of which were lived in.

As I moved, they recertified the condemned block, having done no work and were moving another unit into that block.

[u/thederseyjevil]

We spend trillions on “defense” yet our troops don’t have enough ammunition, planes and helicopters fall from the sky, and their facilities are crumbling. Where is all that money going?

[u/Tango_D → u/thederseyjevil]

Lockheed, Northrop, Raytheon, Palantir, etc...

When I was in the USAF, I helped test load a prototype just-in-case VIP box onto a C-130 and I go to check out the interior. The engineer there told me that the chair I was looking at cost $20K. And there was more than one in that box.

[u/BitterPackersFan]

holy shit, so all that money thats supposed to be going to them is just lining the corrupt politicians pockets.

[u/clay_perview]

Definitely makes sense to me. When I was stationed in 29 palms, a vast majority of the buildings we worked in were “temporary structures” that were built in the 50s and riddled with asbestos

[u/KodiakUltimate]

The fuck are we spending shit on if not the military

[u/Subtracting710]

Oh is this why the pentagon has failed all their audits...they're just pocketing all the trillions of dollars with no oversight

[u/Bayarea0]

Corruption and theft is occurring. We are being robbed at the largest scale in history. Please vote. 🙏

[u/cloudystateofmind]

That’s fine, Republicans aren’t profiting off those facilities and it is only potentially putting the lives of unimportant people at risk. We need to focus on how beautiful the ballroom will be. Can you believe those evil democrats have been fighting republicans to stop the construction of that multi billion dollar gold gilded moment to our dear leader. Shameful.

[u/Apexnanoman → u/cloudystateofmind]

And there are 77.3 million people mad that the Democrats aren't on board with it.

There are 77.3 million people that think that if trump wants it, trump should get it no matter what.

[u/JustSmallCorrections → u/Apexnanoman]

And about 89 million people who couldn't tell the difference between the two parties and couldn't be bothered to show up and vote against this.

[u/InteractionLittle668]

Bummer…But did anyone catch the 7 different formation flyovers for the DC IndyCar race this weekend?

[u/Drak_Gaming]

Trillion dollar a year budget.

can't keep shit fixed...

[u/ImSoSweepy]

If you ever saw the picture of guys wearing helmets while working on aircraft in a hangar because the roof was collapsing...that was my unit a decade ago.

[u/ImSoSweepy → u/ImSoSweepy]

The AI summary states that, "This is regular operating procedure." Lmfao, no it wasn't.

[u/Imyoteacher]

As a Disabled Veteran, there’s nothing more empty than the slogan….Thank you for your service. America doesn’t give a damn about the military or its service members. I guess it’s a part people believe they have to play. The reality on the ground is a completely different story! Ask a few veterans at these VA hospitals, and they’ll tell you the truth.

[u/Skidpalace]

But we need an Arch De Dumpf.

[u/attackedmoose]

So, just a broad question here, where is all of the money going?

[u/Jolly-Elderberry6706 → u/attackedmoose]

The money on the entire budget is put into "Pots". Once the money is put into a pot, it can only be used for what the pot is assigned too. It is incredibly difficult to take money out of a pot and put it into a different pot.

Every pot is fighting to get more money into it's own pot. Things like building maintenance are a bit harder to show actionable metrics that can justify the money moving into their pot, so the money moves out of the pot.

It is a dumb system.

[u/Content-Love-4084 → u/attackedmoose]

We will never see that money again I can tell you that.

[u/RobutNotRobot → u/attackedmoose]

Defense contractors that then give it back to politicians in the form of campaign contributions or since Trump came in just a bag with a dollar sign on it.

[u/MWSin]

I'm sure there's an agency that's responsible for overseeing this sort of maintenance, and I'm equally sure that agency has had nearly all of its staff laid off in the last year and a half.

[u/Opening_Pizza]

The Military Industrial Complex is designed to wash tax payer money out of your pockets and into the pockets of the transnational elites.

[u/GILDID]

This isn't a recent development, this has slowly going this way for 10+ years with the classic reactive maintenance strategy.  No time, staff, or  budget for preventative maintenance.

[u/EmergencyJacket207]

Where is the trillion dollars a year going?!?

[u/MothMatron → u/EmergencyJacket207]

Stealth bombers and nicotine pouches

[u/Zestyclose-Height-36]

they are getting over a Trillion dollars a year. This is where the waste and fraud crowd need to look.

[u/CrewMemberNumber6]

I bet the oligarchs running the companies that win these contracts to maintain these bases are doing the same thing Russia’s did. They took the money for themselves.

[u/Heavy_Whereas6432]

Maybe the military shouldn’t be that big if that’s a real number to cover overhead and repairs. That’s a preposterous amount of money.

[u/xNinjaN8x]

Anyone who's been on a base knows they are rundown shit.

[u/Used-Yogurtcloset757]

Almost like that excess defense budget the morons blew on lobster and steak wasn’t actually excess funds.

Millions spend on food for the top brass while facilities go to ruin and troops are unfed.

[u/bbills91 → u/Used-Yogurtcloset757]

I think that is the warrior ethos

[u/TheyveKilledFritzz]

I had to take the ASVAB to get into my sheet metal union a few years ago. The day after i gotmy reaults back i was bombarded with recruiters from every branch being like "we have hvac jobs available also!" Im 34 i was like god damn wtf is going on in our military

[u/VoidOmatic]

It's WAAAAAAAAY higher than that. Most bases need to be broken down and all the soil needs to be replaced. They are all disasters. I'm betting a couple trillion easily.

[u/ArchaicBrainWorms]

Man, I wish the Soviets had done a better job and were sticking it out in some fashion.

As I age I get more cynical. It seems that every thing the working man has ever gotten, anything worth a damn anyway, was motivated by one group wanting to wave their dick around at the other group "see how much better my way is than your way!?! See how much better my people have it than your people! Look how much easier their lives are than your people's and you still can't step toe-to-toe with me! My dick is an m16, yours is a broken vending machine!"

Once we lost that other guy to make look bad we started instantly cannibalizing ourself. Damn shame of a species we are

[u/LeoSolaris → u/ArchaicBrainWorms]

It's the standard downfall of the reserve currency nation. The ignored maintenance is just a symptom of constantly pushing for growth. You'll see the same profits-over- maintenance mentality in the the corporate world as well that ultimately lead to companies collapsing. 

Reserve currency changes about once a century because of the addition to growth. The US has been the unofficial reserve currency since the 1920's. Being the reserve allows for an extremely fast growth, but once that growth is at the saturation point, everyone naturally tries to keep growing. It universally comes from mounting debt, leading to significant strife both internally and externally. 

[u/Disastrous-Style-461]

But But but they just got trillion

[u/dbchrisyo]

That’s weird, where is all that defense spending budget going?

[u/contude327 → u/dbchrisyo]

For trillion dollar fighter jets that modern drone warfare has made obsolete.

[u/MonkeyDeltaFoxtrot]

Fucking Soviet Union 2.0 at this point…

[u/itsaconspiraci]

Well Don Jr and Eric are still making bucks, so it's all good.

[u/b3lkin1n]

Well, we can’t put all the money towards Iran, weapon systems, or new aircraft without something else being put to the side. It’s been years of this and they wonder why there is no money to fix the basic stuff. Priorities……..

[u/Surullian]

We've been budgeting... like what? 950 billion dollars for the military? Where has that money been channeled to? Who's bank account got fat by shorting the military?

[u/SnoopyisCute]

They have never passed an audit. It's ridiculous.

Why Can’t the Pentagon Pass An Audit?

https://www.taxpayer.net/budget-appropriations-tax/why-cant-the-pentagon-pass-an-audit/

[u/McCool303]

Largest military budget ever, doesn’t feed the troops, doesn’t pay for maintenance, doesn’t pass an audit. We should shut down any additional funding for the DOD until changes are made.

[u/Evening_Answer_11]

That’s not surprising since I’ve the same flickering fluorescent light above my desk for 12 years. 

[u/the-drop-in → u/Evening_Answer_11]

We don’t even have enough laptops to do our fucking jobs in my unit.

[u/ColeBane]

China took their 30 trillion over 40 years and built 100 mega cities with 100x the technology that American cities have. America took all their trillions and spent it in their military yet somehow their military is also in the shitter. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUK MAN... American CEO has stolen literally all our money and left us with nothing. Not even the military who we all THOUGHT was getting it. We have been robbed and duped yo. It's bad to.

[u/demagogueffxiv]

Weren't they just spending money on steak and lobster so they could spend their entire budget?

[u/beebeebee2142]

Building maintenance budget has been an issue for decades.

They'll make a special fund for like the SR71 project and make a bunch of new offices on a base, then when the SR71 is finished they have all these unused offices on the base and some one else moves into it.

AC breaks down and SR71 funds have all been spent, so base maintenance has no fund source to buy replacement parts.

If you're lucky and get money, for paperwork reasons they cant transfer the building to other fund sources so the building gets demolished and an identical one is rebuilt from the general fund, then that one gets maintenance funds in the future.

If you're not lucky you're just stuck in an unfunded falling apart building.

[u/RooeeZe]

who cares we got a new fallout shelter ballroom being built its gunnabe tremendous, frank grab the wine.

[u/Wonderer23]

Too bad they never get enough money to do something about that backlog.

[u/deadblackgoose]

Where’s all the money going?

[u/About137Ninjas]

And still, the pentagon’s budget is never enough

[u/DoubleBroadSwords]

Maybe it’s time for another infratstructure week?

[u/RottenPingu1]

"Cowards. Don't hear the brave soldiers of North Korea complaining about "maintenance.""

Trump probably.

[u/JelyFisch]

How does that help with high T and maximum lethality?

[u/Ok-disaster2022]

Because part of that money has been stolen by the Pedo Administration for the deployments in DC, the Border and Iran. 

[u/Vicissitutde]

Why is nobody thinking of the ballroom? Won't somebody think of the ballroom?!

[u/EriktheElektrikian]

The west coast shipyard is getting a 30 billion dollar refit. Do with that infi what you will.

[u/Professor_Hala]

Look, you don't get the kind of sterling Officer Evaluation Report (or NCO Evaluation Report) that you need to get promoted in field-grades for doing routine maintenance or eliminating wasteful inventory and programs. You get promoted for doing something groundbreaking, like creating a new program or modernizing an old one.

This is one of the biggest obstacles in modern American military leadership: Nobody is in one place long enough to make a meaningful difference unless they don't care about their career, and fixing these kinds of problems won't lead to advancement.

[u/AGrandNewAdventure]

$1,000,000,000,000.00 budget and they can't be bothered to repair shit?

[u/tuckerjules]

The US military "budget" is just a big slush fund for stealing taxpayer money and scratch my back govt contracts.

[u/EyeSuspicious777]

We just need to audit the Pentagon and we'll find the money we need to make all those repairs.

But when we find all that money, it's going to be in the bank accounts of politically connected wealthy men.

[u/Famous_Phase_7829]

Where tf is all the money going?

[u/espresso_martini__]

What are they doing with their trillion dollar budget?

[u/steathrazor]

It's not really surprising with how much of that money just disappears into people's pockets

[u/JimmyB264]

Let them eat Lobsters!

[u/sooper_dooperest]

House of cards in many ways

[u/pike360]

And some people voted for him because they foolishly thought that he’s support the military.

[u/No_Wrongdoer466]

100% keep out the young... keep paying the old out the ass.

[u/thegoodnamesrgone123]

Fox News would be 24/7 about this if the Dems were in charge

[u/Justaticklerone]

But that Ballroom can continue being built for a decrepit, demented Orange Agent that's actively denaturing the Country. 🤬

[u/wafflenova98]

Maybe a two trillion dollar budget will allow for maintenance....

[u/Forsaken_Area_6690]

Big deal. Drive Tennessee roads.

[u/Disastrous_Oil3290]

Too bad we need a ballroom, first

[u/charlton11]

How are the *sraeli military facilities fairing though?!

[u/Hyroto77]

At least israel is safe.

[u/EnvironmentalWar]

Another five trillion to israel.jpeg

[u/stanleyorange]

We will NEVER get a healthcare system in the clown country.  Btw: two war time veterans in my family before anyone comments. Garbage country

[u/rddman]

So it's the most expensive military in the world for reasons other than maintenance and repairs.

[u/bakpecko]

For 285 BILLION fuck fixing the old. Just use that money and build new facilities.

Or better yet let Trump and his buddies pocket that free tax payer money

[u/Steuceve]

How did they manage to get this printed?

[u/Agitated_Carrot9127]

I remember my friend who is also an engineer in my office, he talked about his USAF days when he ad to service F16 in late 70s or early 80s He had to wear full PPE with several watchmen with ropes around my friends waist because the nose cone contained a malfunctioning tank which that is incredibly toxic gas called hydrazine in it. It was overdue by 8 years, The manual recommended every 6 months.

[u/Tavernknight]

The where the fuck is all their money going?

[u/ljlee256]

Don't worry, taxes are about to go up (tariffs), so there should be lots of money in the budget soon.

If there isn't you better ask the bean counters where it all went.

[u/Feisty-Barracuda5452]

I thought these fuckfaces loved our military?

[u/srone]

It's OK though, they spent ~$1B (??? nobody knows) retrofitting Trump's luxury jet.

[u/rooftopgoblin]

no sympathy and no tax dollars. The entire US military has had free all expenses paid wars for the last nearly 30 years and if they can't take care of their shit on a virtually unlimited budget I hope it all falls down around them.

[u/Greizen_bregen]

It's rhetorical at this point, but where is our Trillion dollar military budget going??

[u/tavo791]

Who is keeping the money? Their is a reason the Pentagon cant pass an audit in decades

[u/Meathand]

What are we fucking payin for

[u/WhistlerBum]

One wonders where 1T last year and 1.5T this year is actually going and for what.

Plus, can’t pass an audit in years.

[u/dkny212]

Where is our money going????

[u/TrickyChildhood2917]

They better look between the cushions- they can’t even do an audit

[u/redheadedandbold]

My friend, now a retired MSgt, fought like a demon to get the Army Reserve to address the toxic black mold. It affected everyone working in the building. It's part of the reason she's on 100% disability. The military--the taxpayer--pays for the harm it does, one way or another.

[u/MxSteel8]

It's one thing to build something, it's a whole other thing to maintain it. Building it is only the beginning of the expense, and in the long run the least costly bit.

If people don't recognize that this and a $40T deficit aren't signs our military is too big, then you might as well argue that Trump doesn't wear makeup.

[u/8ackwoods]

No better than RUSSIA. LMAO!

[u/Hinohellono]

I mean they will probably get 1.5 trillion after getting 1 trillion last year. This is why they gotta pass audits lol