Posted on May 1, 2015
Change of Command/Post and Relief (Is the expense justified?)
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I'm curious how others feel about the over the top change of command or post and relief ceremonies considering the fiscal constraints that are being put on each branch. I ask because recently, the I MEF CG held his change of command at Camp Pendleton CA. I MEF has units spread out all over SoCal and AZ and for the change of command Marines and unit leaders were required to participate in the ceremony and had to take a week of time to prepare. there were static displays of nearly every type of vehicle the MEF uses, there was a mounted color guard, and a 105mm howitzer battery salute. the ceremony lasted all of an hour, but close a 1000 Marines were sidelined from their regular duties for a week to support it. that to me is a waste of money and resources. Thoughts?
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Training
Posted >1 y ago
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I agree that events such as this are a waste of valuable resources and believe that these things should be scaled back. Otherwise, don't be complaining about not having those resources to accomplish your mission (as is so often the case).
This certainly isn't unique to the military though: In my mind, one of the biggest "wastes" of resources (on a grand scale, by the way) is our Commander-in-Chief's habit of jumping on Air Force One to fly somewhere to give a speech that could have just as easily been done from right here in DC (most of the time he uses the speech to preach to Congress anyway). Every time he does that, I just cringe at the thought of all the "scarce" tax dollars that are just getting flushed down the toilet.
This certainly isn't unique to the military though: In my mind, one of the biggest "wastes" of resources (on a grand scale, by the way) is our Commander-in-Chief's habit of jumping on Air Force One to fly somewhere to give a speech that could have just as easily been done from right here in DC (most of the time he uses the speech to preach to Congress anyway). Every time he does that, I just cringe at the thought of all the "scarce" tax dollars that are just getting flushed down the toilet.
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Although it seems to be a waste of money and resources it is part of the militarys traditions and heritage which we have started losing anyway. I am not a big fan of having to participant in them but I do understand as you also probablly do why we do them. I say keep the tradition going.
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CWO4 (Join to see)
Yes, ceremonial 105's. but still seems a bit over the top. a lot of pomp and circumstance at a great cost.
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PO2 Skip Kirkwood
I doubt that there was anything lost that could not be regained through flexibility and creativity. What important job did not get completed preparing for the parade? Some training set back a week that nobody will ever notice (except the guy who had to revise the schedule)? The horses for the mounted color guard had to be maintained anyhow - perhaps a little excess dry-cleaner bills? Did troops get taken away from actual battle to attend?
I support keeping the traditions.
I support keeping the traditions.
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GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad
Justifying costly expenditures on the basis of tradition? I'm sorry, but fiscal responsibility has to start somewhere. Besides, no one is advocating doing away with the traditional change of command --- instead, what is being sought is the injection of a bit of common sense with regard to costs.
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CWO4 (Join to see)
to answer your question PO2 Kirkwood, many Marines were taken away from very important daily tasks. I currently have over 6500 Marines forward deployed around the globe that my admin branch services from CONUS. We ensure pay and entitlements are taken care of and if you have deployed, you know how important getting paid is while out there. for the week leading up to that ceremony, 12 of 20 Marines were tasked to spend the entire day practicing for the actual ceremony. during that time, 135 electronic reach back admin action requests were sent to us from forward deployed units. if I had all of my Marines on hand, they all would have been worked in a timely manner...due to the absence, they weren't and it has caused in several cases some very irate CO's sending me nasty e-mails inquiring as to why their Marines were not getting the best quality admin support....to which I had answer. my situation is just the tip of the iceberg regarding the absolute stupidity of these over the top ceremonies. I believe they need to go.
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They use money on this stuff then cancel NCOES because there is no funding
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