Budget crunch? But I need my Burger King!

Nothing in the news has really caught my eye in the past several days and I'm out of ideas for blog posts on situations of interest from one of my deployments so I figure I'll write a quick couple of paragraphs on where the government/military can save some money, since that seems to be what everyone is talking about these days. It doesn't help that the NHL playoffs start tomorrow which is just distracting me even more. But enough about distractions, where can the military possibly save some money with two occupations going on and the possibility of an expansion of the conflict in Libya?

Getting rid of this absurdity would be a good start...

That picture is from Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan. Do they really need a T.G.I. Friday's at KAF? Are the dining facilities that miserable, surf and turf night that brutal, that soldiers/sailors/marines/airmen need this? I find it utterly ridiculous that the US government spent the money to build a facility and bring in a crew just so the troops on KAF can have a little "Americana". Even if TGI Friday's spent most of the money themselves (which is likely), I still find it absurd. You're supposed to be fighting an insurgency, not killing time until happy hour with your coworkers. Camp Victory in Iraq has a fraking bowling alley. What did that cost?

Now don't get me wrong, I don't blame the troops who are stationed at these large bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, I even understand the need for them. You can't expect a Corps or Division level staff to operate out of a small forward operating base and it would be amusing to base a squadron of F-16's out of a combat outpost. I can even kind of see the logic behind an American style restaurant or a recreation facility like a bowling alley. However, money is best used elsewhere. If it is deemed necessary to have food available (that soldiers pay for) that is an alternative to the dining facility, then bring in some locals to operate an establishment.

On tiny COP Cobra we had two places, one was a shwarma stand and the other was a chicken and pizza joint. They cost money but helped break the monotony of the dining facility. It may even seem a little hypocritical to be griping about the amenities on places like Victory, afterall, I spent my first two deployments on large FOBs. My first deployment was even on Victory (no bowling alley or Friday's there yet though) and my second I spent 7 out of 15 months on bases that made up the Victory Base Complex. But my last deployment, as I've mentioned, was at a tiny combat outpost far from anything...and I am better for it. Being away from "the flagpole" in my opinion was far superior to spending a year on a base that might was well not even have been in Iraq.

War, for the most part, is dull. Soldiers and Airmen will be bored, but they get bored back in the States too. Get as many soldiers as you can off those massive bases and on to combat outposts and patrol bases. Those that have to be on the large facilities can go a year without some babyback ribs. Put money and resources into elements that will help defeat the insurgency.