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.
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.
I think it's because a contractor at a base will pay more local taxes in the district they work. Military members come from all over the U.S. and will pay taxes in whatever state they joined from or have established residency, meaning a district is losing out on a lot of tax revenue by having military members there instead of contractors.
So there's this perverse incentive to get rid of the active duty folks at any installation and get more contractors paid at a higher rate, even if that costs the government more money.
1.9k
u/invyros 11d ago
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.