The Trump Presidency 2.0

[ThunderHorse]

Ok, I am 100% sure this is 7d chess by the Prez- Inviting Whitmer to the White House, praising her highly- and then ambushes her by bringing her into the Oval and talking about how the election was rigged while she stands there.

In my fantastical brainspace, Trump just KNOWS the backlash Whitmer gets for this photo op. Just knows it. Whitmer is a lame duck in her third term (she can't get re-elected), but the heavy praise Trump gave her and the utterly predictable reaction of the left ("APOSTASY!" the fish-mouthed blue hairs cried) opens Whitmer up to the rage of her own party, and damages her for a run in '28.

Just comedy all around.

I'll be honest, she scored points with Michiganders doing this...but got nothing out of it if she wants to be POTUS. But she's as vile as Newsom. Polis also attacking her, what a limp. Colorado's electorate is just California in the mountains and everything about how the Denver Metropolitan area votes is why the Democrats lost. My BIL lives in Denver, a wealthy neighborhood...especially when you cross the street north...the local library has multiple drag queen book readings per month. My SIL took their toddler to one two years ago, I can't believe they're not divorced but that's a different subject.

Anyways, Whitmer was already trash, but it seemed like she scored some points here to get some of that pork in the next budget.

 

[BloodStripe]

I don't think you read the article. I'll sum it up:


FIRE Turds, save $$$$$$$. Use that $$$$$$ to hire PROBLEM solvers! SOLVE problems, become more LETHAL! Become more LETHAL, do what the DOD is made to do!!!!

If only…

Sure, get rid of jobs that aren’t war fighting capabilities. But I’ll never forget being on a FOB without a NEX and getting a monthly run to Anaconda to stock up on shit. Best morale booster ever. So when we start looking at if we go to war today and that job doesn’t exist, would we create it, maybe privatizing a lot of jobs isn’t the answer because yes those jobs would be created.

I would rather in-source to a green suitor. I already look at DA Civilians as "out-sourcing". If you can't carry a gun...why have you?

lol good luck fielding an extra 1 million plus person Army and all the extra costs that come with it. Pay is going to to need to vastly increased at all ranks to attract recruits. Same with bonuses; unless of course you want to draft people, which as a free society is a scary thought when we aren’t at war.

My E7 neighbor makes more money per year between basic pay and BAH than a GS 14 does. This not even counting the medical benefits and his retirement that will come two decades earlier. Further, have you seen how much VA claims have skyrocketed over bogus bullshit? GS don’t get disability for “sleep apnea” or having sand on our crotch yet we do the same exact job. And finally do you really expect green side folks to stay around long enough to retire and to constantly fill the gaps when they leave service or get medically separated? Or fired for loss of confidence? Or charged under the UCMJ for motorboating subordinates?

At the end of the day, most of the military jobs (civilian included) will be replaced by robots controlled by AI. Which is a good thing for saving lives, and more importantly enriching the companies who make those things since the Government basically no longer makes our own shit and we purchase everything.

 

[BloodStripe]

Honestly, our greatest insider threat is the person writing the contract

Blame the TPOC not the KO. It’s crazy to me the number of conversations a week I have to have asking for the requirement owner to start taking ownership of their requirement. They have to live with the outcomes of the contract, I don’t. If it fails, no skin off my back but the program office who needs it will feel the pain.

Modernizing Defense Acquisitions and Spurring Innovation in the Defense Industrial Base

I do hope there are major acquisition changes. This is a start but the bulk of the number of actions is for routine commercial shit (software, services, furniture, etc) yet they are honestly more complex than purchasing non commercial large program stuff because we have bastardized commercial purchases. I hope the next EO is on reducing the size and constraints of the nearly 99 million word Code of Federal Regulations we have. Just citing DOGE, in 2024 there were 18.45 rules per law.

 

[amlove21]

I'll be honest, she scored points with Michiganders doing this...but got nothing out of it if she wants to be POTUS. But she's as vile as Newsom. Polis also attacking her, what a limp. Colorado's electorate is just California in the mountains and everything about how the Denver Metropolitan area votes is why the Democrats lost. My BIL lives in Denver, a wealthy neighborhood...especially when you cross the street north...the local library has multiple drag queen book readings per month. My SIL took their toddler to one two years ago, I can't believe they're not divorced but that's a different subject.

Anyways, Whitmer was already trash, but it seemed like she scored some points here to get some of that pork in the next budget.

I have close friends in the political space in Colorado... it's absolutely disgusting.

if you want to hear about the Army Ranger Captain famously quoted in Rolling Stone as saying, "(During the Jan 6th event)- It was the most scared I have ever been in my life. I called my wife, and my kids, and told them I might not come home"... I have the episode for you. Rep Jason Crow is an abomination, and Colorado has fallen.

 

[amlove21]

This is "cause". When you write an email shit talking the admin you work for as a commander, that's a bridge too far. FAFO.

Pentagon fires Greenland US base commander who 'undermined' JD Vance after Pituffik visit

 

[ThunderHorse]

This is "cause". When you write an email shit talking the admin you work for as a commander, that's a bridge too far. FAFO.

Pentagon fires Greenland US base commander who 'undermined' JD Vance after Pituffik visit

So yesterday Jim LaPorta tweeted "relieved for loss of trust and confidence" more as a predictive joke.

This lady could have just submitted her letter of resignation. I don't even know what he said in his speech...but I know what she wrote in here email!

If only…

Sure, get rid of jobs that aren’t war fighting capabilities. But I’ll never forget being on a FOB without a NEX and getting a monthly run to Anaconda to stock up on shit. Best morale booster ever. So when we start looking at if we go to war today and that job doesn’t exist, would we create it, maybe privatizing a lot of jobs isn’t the answer because yes those jobs would be created.



lol good luck fielding an extra 1 million plus person Army and all the extra costs that come with it. Pay is going to to need to vastly increased at all ranks to attract recruits. Same with bonuses; unless of course you want to draft people, which as a free society is a scary thought when we aren’t at war.

My E7 neighbor makes more money per year between basic pay and BAH than a GS 14 does. This not even counting the medical benefits and his retirement that will come two decades earlier. Further, have you seen how much VA claims have skyrocketed over bogus bullshit? GS don’t get disability for “sleep apnea” or having sand on our crotch yet we do the same exact job. And finally do you really expect green side folks to stay around long enough to retire and to constantly fill the gaps when they leave service or get medically separated? Or fired for loss of confidence? Or charged under the UCMJ for motorboating subordinates?

At the end of the day, most of the military jobs (civilian included) will be replaced by robots controlled by AI. Which is a good thing for saving lives, and more importantly enriching the companies who make those things since the Government basically no longer makes our own shit and we purchase everything.

So when the next war kicks off we should send GS-14s who for the most part have never held a rifle to the front but as DA Civilians. Every time you cut end strength, you lose capability. If you look at the Army in particular, the amount of green suitors that just replaced by a GS employee over the last 30 years is stupid.

 

[Blizzard]

Cabinet reports from the Trump Administration. Round table reports on key activities from each Cabinet official. I like this.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1910454856407802232

 

[Blizzard]

I have close friends in the political space in Colorado... it's absolutely disgusting.

if you want to hear about the Army Ranger Captain famously quoted in Rolling Stone as saying, "(During the Jan 6th event)- It was the most scared I have ever been in my life. I called my wife, and my kids, and told them I might not come home"... I have the episode for you. Rep Jason Crow is an abomination, and Colorado has fallen.

Colorado is the new California. Many of the dipshits that ruined California flocked to Colorado with their same ideologies and are running that state into the ground as well.

 

[Topkick]

Colorado is the new California. Many of the dipshits that ruined California flocked to Colorado with their same ideologies and are running that state into the ground as well.

It's been a minute but I was stationed in California in the late 80s and at Carson for 5 years in the 90s. Colorado was a pretty cool place with lots to do, but even then it was headed in that direction. Like California, there are some sensible, middle ground folks but it's those dipshits that give the entire states the bad rep.

 

[BloodStripe]

So when the next war kicks off we should send GS-14s who for the most part have never held a rifle to the front but as DA Civilians. Every time you cut end strength, you lose capability. If you look at the Army in particular, the amount of green suitors that just replaced by a GS employee over the last 30 years is stupid.

I’m going to guess over 80% of the military doesn’t fire a rifle more than once per year. How do you plan to staff your active duty only military without civilians? Whats that recruitment process like? How are you going to pay for it? How are you going to keep retention rates high enough to sustain any level, especially in the mid career and higher areas? Bonuses? What do promotions look like? Are you still PCSing every two to three years? What’s that cost like? Where are they going to sleep? Eat? Where’s their uniforms coming from?

What you are describing is like marxism, where it sounds like it will work on paper but is absolutely shit in practice.

 

[RackMaster]

Not at fan of Maher but respect him for this.

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[Topkick]

Not at fan of Maher but respect him for this.

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This isn't shocking at all to me. I couldn't know but it's how I've envisioned Trump all along.

 

[ThunderHorse]

I’m going to guess over 80% of the military doesn’t fire a rifle more than once per year. How do you plan to staff your active duty only military without civilians? Whats that recruitment process like? How are you going to pay for it? How are you going to keep retention rates high enough to sustain any level, especially in the mid career and higher areas? Bonuses? What do promotions look like? Are you still PCSing every two to three years? What’s that cost like? Where are they going to sleep? Eat? Where’s their uniforms coming from?

What you are describing is like marxism, where it sounds like it will work on paper but is absolutely shit in practice.

Weird comments, we had civilians in the 50s, but we also had a far larger service and far few DoD Civilians as it relates to roles. BACK in the day you literally had guys who became permanent colonels. Determine that they would not be Brigadiers but they had a desire to serve and the Army had a desire to keep them. Heck the Navy even has a technical program for things like this called Limited Duty Officers. Do those people fire rifles, no.

The point is we have cut to the bone on our war fighting capacity. Fix it. It's not that deep of a concept.

The French also have an enlisted concept called Caporal Chef, they're still an NCO, but they're essentially a technical warfighting expert that remains at squad level. These men don't get forced out of the Army. It's really easy to change the up or out system if we want to.

 

[DA SWO]

I would agree on changing up or out.
Of course I would also increase the interval between promotions. 3 years to 1LT, 6 to CPT, 12 to MAJ 18 to LTC.
Passed over CPT's could get a reduced retirement at 15.

 

[BloodStripe]

Weird comments, we had civilians in the 50s, but we also had a far larger service and far few DoD Civilians as it relates to roles. BACK in the day you literally had guys who became permanent colonels. Determine that they would not be Brigadiers but they had a desire to serve and the Army had a desire to keep them. Heck the Navy even has a technical program for things like this called Limited Duty Officers. Do those people fire rifles, no.

The point is we have cut to the bone on our war fighting capacity. Fix it. It's not that deep of a concept.

The French also have an enlisted concept called Caporal Chef, they're still an NCO, but they're essentially a technical warfighting expert that remains at squad level. These men don't get forced out of the Army. It's really easy to change the up or out system if we want to.

Odd you didn’t answer a single question I asked.

If it wasn’t such a deep problem, we would never have so many civilians working for DOD.

 

[ThunderHorse]

Odd you didn’t answer a single question I asked.

If it wasn’t such a deep problem, we would never have so many civilians working for DOD.

You decided to insert your reaction because you are a current DOD civilian. My comments follow because I've watched the Army get smaller, become less ready, and more deployed than ever. This is breaking the Army. What do you do with promotions? Well you make more technicians out of officers, I provided an example that your former service uses. I provided an example on the enlisted side.

There are many many solutions that don't involve adding another civilian head count. But also should I expect more to remain if the incentives to remain are better? yes. They will then get retirement...and a DOD Civilian has a chance at retirement. UCMJ for motorboating subordinates? WTH does that have to do with this whole discussion?

VA claims? They're not bullshit. I operate on the "you broke it, you bought it" policy. If the claim meets the standard, the claim gets assigned a rating and the veteran gets paid. Of course, Veterans eat their own as you are clearly just accusing/claiming other veterans committing fraud.

The amount of Civilians we have working for the DOD is a symptom of a problem, one that has not ever been addressed and we just continue to paper over it by hiring more.

 

[BloodStripe]

Sure, work for DoD as a civilian. But the data doesn’t really support your argument that it’s grown. The number of troops has also significantly declined.

How many people work for the federal government? | USAFacts

Theres basically been 3 million federal employees since 1945. Which as a percentage, today is much lower than that time.

And yes, many people fake the fuck out of VA claims. You won’t change my mind on that. Too many claim bull shit things that are impossible to argue against and no politician will ever take it on because of optics.

WTH does that have to do with this whole discussion?

Because active duty members have recently been forced to retire at current rank because of that.

 

[AWP]

The amount of Civilians we have working for the DOD is a symptom of a problem, one that has not ever been addressed and we just continue to paper over it by hiring more.

In my small slice, I see hiring practices found everywhere in things like empire building, but I also see some that are a result of a flawed gov't system and ever changing requirements...requirements that few understand.

For people who don't see what goes on behind the scenes or who don't understand how it works, "we need to cut people" is both correct and incorrect. If we're cutting people without simultaneously addressing WHY we have manpower issues, then we are accomplishing nothing and will be back to these manning levels in less than a decade.

Unless we change how we think and how we operate, we can fire everyone and we'll be right back here again. A lot of people screaming about "too many Federal employees" think they know how the gov't works, but they really don't.

 

[Box]

For every argument that I see for taking a flame thrower to civil service jobs - I can easily see a mountain of reasons to expand them

There are TONS of jobs in my building that are being done by able bodied men and women that should be down at battalion level or lower in warfighter or warfighter support roles - but they are doing silly shit on a G-staff
-silly fucking jobs on a G-staff that cause them to lose jump pay
-silly fucking jobs on a G-staff that cause them to lose demo pay
-silly fucking jobs on a G-staff that cause them to spend time away from soldiers
-silly fucking jobs on a G-staff that keep them from shooting a government issued firearm for years on end
-silly fucking jobs on a G-staff that keep them away from innovation and force modernization that will have left them behind when they get back to a line unit

Most of these troops should be pushed back down into the operational force.

I on the other hand am little more than a washed up, aging, pear shaped, has been that doesn't jump, shoot, drive, or maintain military equipment any longer.
I do however have 30 years of experience dealing with the process.
I haven't pulled JM duties or even made a jump for the Army since December of 2016
I haven't done FRIES since 2014
I haven't fired a rifle/pistol qualification table since 2015
...but the processes for getting these things done is stuck in my head
...the processes for getting resources is stuck in my head
...the processes for validating requirements is stuck in my head
...the processes for editing, updating, and publishing policy, doctrine, and regulations are stuck in my head
The building I work in is also full of OTHER washed up, aging, pear shaped, has beens that haven't jumped, shot, driven, or maintained military equipment in years - but they also have the process stuck in their memory like a fucking splinter that they can't remove

Civil servants - in many cases - are the continuity that keep this years brand new LTC from trying to put the same square peg in a round hole that the last LTC spent months trying to navigate.
Some civil servants slow roll their political bias and make the US citizens hate ALL civil servants because "we're ALL just dishonest bureaucrats"
Some don't.

Pick your own adventure.
Just don't be surprised when the ODA's and SEAL platoons are undermanned because they had to pull a bunch of E7's up to the G-staff to manage the ammo accounts, update the training manuals, or just publish the safety bulletins that warn people that if they dont pay attention to details - their equipment just might kill them.

...at least that what I was told

 

[Dame]

For every argument that I see for taking a flame thrower to civil service jobs - I can easily see a mountain of reasons to expand them

There are TONS of jobs in my building that are being done by able bodied men and women that should be down at battalion level or lower in warfighter or warfighter support roles - but they are doing silly shit on a G-staff
-silly fucking jobs on a G-staff that cause them to lose jump pay
-silly fucking jobs on a G-staff that cause them to lose demo pay
-silly fucking jobs on a G-staff that cause them to spend time away from soldiers
-silly fucking jobs on a G-staff that keep them from shooting a government issued firearm for years on end
-silly fucking jobs on a G-staff that keep them away from innovation and force modernization that will have left them behind when they get back to a line unit

Most of these troops should be pushed back down into the operational force.

I on the other hand am little more than a washed up, aging, pear shaped, has been that doesn't jump, shoot, drive, or maintain military equipment any longer.
I do however have 30 years of experience dealing with the process.
I haven't pulled JM duties or even made a jump for the Army since December of 2016
I haven't done FRIES since 2014
I haven't fired a rifle/pistol qualification table since 2015
...but the processes for getting these things done is stuck in my head
...the processes for getting resources is stuck in my head
...the processes for validating requirements is stuck in my head
...the processes for editing, updating, and publishing policy, doctrine, and regulations are stuck in my head
The building I work in is also full of OTHER washed up, aging, pear shaped, has beens that haven't jumped, shot, driven, or maintained military equipment in years - but they also have the process stuck in their memory like a fucking splinter that they can't remove

Civil servants - in many cases - are the continuity that keep this years brand new LTC from trying to put the same square peg in a round hole that the last LTC spent months trying to navigate.
Some civil servants slow roll their political bias and make the US citizens hate ALL civil servants because "we're ALL just dishonest bureaucrats"
Some don't.

Pick your own adventure.
Just don't be surprised when the ODA's and SEAL platoons are undermanned because they had to pull a bunch of E7's up to the G-staff to manage the ammo accounts, update the training manuals, or just publish the safety bulletins that warn people that if they dont pay attention to details - their equipment just might kill them.

...at least that what I was told

I'll tell you why. Because I won't take a significant cut in pay to do those jobs as a CIV or active duty.

ETA: I also don't get reassigned, deployed, or relocated. I go home to my family at night. And I have more experience, more knowledge, and a better grasp of the job than any E7 or CIV. Fire me and see what the AD guys do.
Signed,
a cleared contractor