Yet another reason why political outsiders like Trump and Sanders are resonating so well with American voters. I think we’re willing to accept some incompetence from government, but not outright theft and fraud. This is a real black eye for the US Navy.
While the CiC is ultimately responsible, I don’t think any elected president would have the ability to move the momentum that is the military/industrial complex. There is so much inertia there that trying to affect any significant change will take more than a single president’s term.
What it does tell me, though, is that the current Navy leadership is so soft and pampered that they put their own creature comforts ahead of any national interests. My father, a 27 year Navy veteran, wasn’t shocked to hear small time swindle jobs like this. Indeed, he told me stories of local contractors and salesman bilking departments, divisions, and individual sailors. A good friend, an Air Force colonel, has mentioned these kinds of things as well. But that was always nipped in the bud very quickly by leadership. If he were alive today, I think he’d be incensed by this kind of corruption occurring with the Navy leadership turning a blind eye, or at worst, with their blessing. And I can only imagine the anger and frustration of my friend.
And we also have to remember that the senior leadership in the military are as much political positions as military, especially at the flag level. The only way this continued is because of the military leadership the Pentagon and Congress have approved. I think (and I’d bet my colonel buddy would agree) that those flag level appointments have become political cash cows rather than military meritocracies. So perhaps a political outsider becoming president could clean house at the upper levels of leadership. But I don’t think Sanders or Trump would replace them with anyone better.
