There's an epidemic of waste, fraud, and abuse among government contractors charged with supporting America's military and helping to keep our country safe. We've all heard the stories - Halliburton overcharging U.S. taxpayers by billions in Iraq, $34 billion in mismanaged Homeland Security contracts, and brave American soldiers fighting with equipment in a state of disrepair.
Beyond out of control deficits, wasting our tax dollars, there's a human cost to poor oversight of government contracts. It's a lesson I learned 30 years ago at the end of the Vietnam War.
When I arrived in Thailand in early January 1975, I felt lucky to have friends who were already there - including several friends from the Air Force Academy and pilot training.
One of them was Brian Rye, a 1971 Academy graduate. Brian was one of those people everyone knew. He was a year ahead of me at the Academy, known for (among other things) shaving his head and painting "Beat Army" across the top of his scalp during football season.
Brian was killed in a helicopter crash on January 28th, 1975, along with four other crew members. Brian died because a government contractor supplied substandard bolts that were supposed to hold the flight controls together on his helicopter.
People used to laugh at how much the Pentagon paid for hammers and toilet seats. But there was a reason to pay for special treated bolts for helicopter flight control systems. Brian and his crew died because of it.
On May 13, 1975, Larry Froelich and his crew were also killed in a helicopter crash. They died because a part was left out of a rotor blade on their helicopter. The rotor blade was inspected, which means someone had signed off that it was properly built--even though it was missing a crucial part. The rotor blade failed, Larry and 22 others on the helicopter died.
You can find the names of Brian Rye, Larry Froelich and the others who died with them on the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C. Go down to the `V' where the two sides come together, then go up a few names on the left side. These men weren't killed by hostile fire--they were killed by poor management of government contractors, and those who put profit ahead of "supporting the troops."
Thirty years later, Pentagon auditors continue to uncover fraud, substandard equipment, or no equipment being provided to the troops in Iraq. Contractors continue to make profits from our tax dollars, and the men and women of our armed forces continue to die when the right equipment could be saving lives.
It's well past time for change. Our troops, our citizens and our taxpayers deserve much better.
- Charlie
You can learn more about our campaign at www.charliebrownforcongress.org
You can donate to our cause Here.
Next week, faulty intelligence and the last name on the Vietnam Wall.