Similar Posts
New Year’s Wish
Best wishes for a safe New Year’s eve and a bright, prosperous year to come… And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere ! And gie’s a hand o’ thine ! And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught, For auld lang syne. For auld lang syne, my jo, For auld lang syne, We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness…
Heads-up WordPress/Bad Behavior Users
You need to install an update to Bad Behavior right away (go here) if you’ve been having trouble posting (like moi). I’ll let this suffice for my rant.
Project Valour-IT: Calling Out The Junior Service
OK, guess it’s throw down time – time to get some skin in this challenge…Spirit of Attack and all Open challenge to Mike over at No Angst Zone – if Team USAF is ahead of Team Navy after the final reckoning on Thanksgiving, then the following Friday (5 Dec), my Flightdeck Friday post will be…
Wednesday’s Child & Flight Sched
A couple of notes for the next few days — YHS will be taking a temporary (overnight) residence at Bethesda for surgery…and since it would be unseemly to try and post on recuperative medicine there will be a slight mod to the normal flight sched for Thursday and Friday while going EMCON ALPHA through the…
Scratch Hong Kong off the Liberty Port List…
(BBC – 6 Oct 08)Â China cancels US military contact: China has cancelled military and diplomatic exchanges with the US in protest at a $6.5bn deal to supply Taiwan with arms, US officials say. A number of senior level visits and military-to-military exchanges due before November would not go ahead, the US defence department said….
5 Comments
Comments are closed.

All kidding aside, what is the decision-making process like for something which is feasible, needed ASAP, and is cost-effecitve? Would the path to a final decision still be so convoluted?
Veritas et Fidelis Semper
I think the first thing would be smelling salts for the procurement officers! I worked in the DOD world many years it’s extremely rare to find all of those in the same package. If it’s needed ASAP it normally costs more, if its feasible we still have to investigate the non-feasible alternatives (sole-source justification), and if it’s cost effective we have to investigate for some months or years to make sure it’s really what they say so that means you can’t get it ASAP. By the time it’s justified, researched and approved it’s no long feasible as there has been a work around found or a new and better technology available.
Thank you for taking the time to respond, sir. Basically, it appears that absolutely no one benefits except, of course, the………..well, I don’t really know what to call them………..paper-pushers who invent these mazes to make something which should be perfwectly clear and easy exceedingly complex!
Well, in the meantime, we “shortest path from A to B” folks must keep plugging away and not become discouraged. Either that or come into a great deal of money so that we may overhaul this process…….it could be done, and that’s not just wishful thinking.
Veritas et Fidelis Semper
The system is the system. Many different SecDef’s have tried many different methods of acquisition reform but none has had the kind of impact that would lead to a “sensible” process by your expectations. And don’t forget Congress is involved too, they have to pass TWO bills, one to authorize the budget for purchases and one to FUND that same authorization. Those bills can be seriously different. So even IF there was a fast-track process (which there sorta is but its still slow by civilian standards) the money has to be there from Congress to buy the items or has to be taken (and moved..which requires more paper) from other areas. The areas that lose the $$ can put up a fight within the system or via their CongressCritters. Case in point was body armor and up-armored HUMVEEs for the troops in Iraq, that process kicked off close to 2 yrs ago, Congress gave DoD the money pretty fast and the needs are just now getting filled. You can’t turn the Titanic on a dime.