While they can apparently submit a form to cover it, this is insane. Are they planning on reissuing the uniforms to new soldiers? Don’t the bureaucrats know that war is hell and the people fighting them might muss their clothing? Are we that broke that we have to recover uniform costs from soldiers to pay the cost overruns on weapon systems even the Pentagon doesn’t want? On the other hand, given the huge paychecks soldiers receive means they are wallowing in cash.

Imagine fighting for your country in Iraq, risking life and limb, only to be billed for your lost or damaged uniform. That’s what is happening to some soldiers returning from Iraq.

The Eyewitness News Investigators has been looking into this for some time.

They served bravely and are now being slapped with a bill from Uncle Sam. The men you are about to hear from are being charged for the uniforms they served in — one of them damaged on the battlefield, others lost in the confusion of war.
[…]
This soldier got a bill for about $500 dollars for lost gear. Another soldier had to pay nearly $800 dollars for items such as trousers, a coat, a helmet which he lost during a year spent in some of Iraq’s most dangerous towns.

“Maybe you were lying down with a coat behind your head and you come under fire. Your first reaction isn’t to grab coat fold it neatly and make sure it’s properly stowed when you’re being shot at,” another soldier said.
[…]
“You can sometimes get him to sign a waiver, but he’s often swamped with things that are much more important,” the soldier said.

These soldiers paid their bills rather than getting bogged down in bureaucracy. They still love the military, even though the respect seemed less than mutual.

09.01.17 Saturday – Episode #66

Click image to go to No Agenda.

This Episode’s Show Notes by KD “Bubba” Martin:

• Throwin’ the “O” and what can your government do to you, it’s time for No Agenda!
• We’re starting with wrestling, current and past; who remembers the Sheik? Who remembers the XFL?
• Adam brings up the inauguration. Don’t forget to throw the “O”, the Obama salute.
• Dexter gets a lap dance.
• John reviews Battlestar Galactica. Hmm, a 2,000 year old Armani suit and tie.
• The media is ready to turn its photographs into the Obama cream, red and blue motif. John has the URL.
• German measels leads into an outbreak of rabid raccoons in the US.
• Was the recent U.S. Air crash really caused by a flock of geese? We discuss other aspects of the crash.
• There might be a stop to the campaign speeches. Maybe.
• The stimulus package and tracking the dollars: oh, boy, renewable technology.
• Adam reads some interesting quotes from the stimulus package document, and how the money is earmarked. Don’t miss this.
• On tape: Congressman Alan Grayson grills the Federal Reserve Vice Chairman.
• Are we going down the same road as Zimbabwe? Expect the $100,000,000,000 dollar bill soon.
• John’s interesting railroad economic indicator.
• Germany’s internet to be filtered to protect the “children.”
• Man arrested for Obama assasination plot, according to Press TV. Why didn’t we hear about this?
• The world economy as a fractal.
• Saltwater burns. John laughs.
• Off we go into satellite, local stations and the slingbox. Who wants a Russian feed?
• Have you got your TV converter coupon yet? What a gorgeous credit card.

Queue / cue / Q the closing credits — We hope you enjoy the show!

No Agenda

Running time: approx. 105 mins.

I finally figured out what was crashing the servers here at dvorak.org. Bad firmware on the new Seagate 1.5T Barracuda drives. Everyone makes mistakes but in this case there is no firmware to download. You have to email them and then wait till they reply. And to email them you have to fill out a long form to create an account and agree to their terms, and when you do it creates an account – but the account doesn’t work. Seagate used to be a good company but I am not as impressed as I used to be. In the mean time the drive has been moved to a less critical server.

Also – updates need to run under either DOS or LINUX. Not running WINDOWS on this server.