In Case You Missed This... 'Who’s Paying the Pro-War Pundits?' - Lee Fang/TheNation

[TheVisitor]

8. Let Me Tell You A Story About Defense Contracts...

Once upon a time I served in the US Navy. I was active duty and saw the shit stir real-time, all the time.

The ship I was on was used as a way to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from the taxpayers into the pockets of defense contractors and brass serving currently in the Navy.

First of all, our entire ship was scheduled for what is called a 'mid-life', where the entire ship is basically gutted and rebuilt from the inside out. This costs millions of dollars per day to accomplish.

First arriving back from deployment we had a choice of two shipyards in Norfolk, VA...
Shipyard #1 was reputable and cleaner, had better employees and screening
Shipyard #2 was run down, old, with employees who got in trouble for harassing our crew on a semi-regular basis

Our captain at the time was on his way to another command. Whoever the deciding power in this case was, chose Shipyard #2.

Here comes the new captain. No sea experience really whatsoever, was a Blue Angel and wore his flight suit like a total tool every Monday like we cared. He was a photo-op queen, as most Blue Angels are (but not all are tools like him). Harvard grad who got babied into the Navy and given a fast track because he had a rich family and no doubt some political ties. Type of guy who came over the 1MC (ship's intercom system) to announce how he we could all "set your sights on me, take aim... i am bulletproof" most arrogant asshole I've ever met. Needless to say, his captain's chair in the pilot house was obliterated when some of the crew decided to rip it to shreds with a knife.

For some reason our ship just was spending months and months longer than anticipated in this yard with excuse upon excuse as to why the contractors were not completing the work in a timely fashion. Every week there was costing millions of dollars. We were there for over a year... Why?

The owner of the shipyard was our Commanding Officers brother in-law.
Bombshell... From then on we knew exactly why we were there...
Because he was obviously getting kickbacks for prolonging the stay in the yard...
His brother in law was taking millions from the tax payers through defense fund contracts and slipping some of it in our CO's pocket...


So the money went from
Tax Payers > Defense Funds > US Navy > Shipyard > Shipyard contract workers and owners > Commanding Officer getting kickbacks from his brother in law...

And the longer we stayed, the longer all of you paid...
And I'm sure he was not the only one getting 'kick backs'
And that's the trash that gets 'fast tracked' in the military...
Hope you enjoyed my story...