Long ago in my brief time as a civilian in the Department ofthe Army Corps of Engineers I learned what military bureaucracy means. It means nothing happens quick, and nothing ever gets built quickly. As a small cog in the big machine I worked on evaluating a small part of a small part of a small project. When I forwarded my findings for review there were 22 names on the routing slip. It could be months before it made its way back to me with a thumbs up or down.
When Trump changed his slogan to “Finish the Wall” by claiming he was already building it I did a spit take of my diet Mountain Dew. Yeah right! Donald Trump who billed himself as the greatest builder apparently does not know shit about how slow military construction projects move. Doesn’t he remember Katrina, that last time our country was focused on getting a wall built? And that was only an emergency repair.
For a project of the magnitude of what Trump imagines the people who started the studies for the design would already have long ago retired. Trump, since he is making all this shit up as he goes, is starting from next to nothing. Now, I was a civilian at the Corps but one of my most vivid recollections were from watching the interactions of those on the military side. In short, you didn’t blow smoke up your commander’s ass. EVER.
Yesterday the Military Times reported that some folks at the Pentagon had some questions for the man who knows the most about building things:
The Pentagon has asked Department of Homeland Security to identify locations where border wall construction would improve the “effectiveness" of military troops deployed there, a key justification required to redirect military construction spending that would otherwise go to local base projects.
Oh my.
I can only imagine how much work in the scoping, planning and design would need to have occurred just to get to the point where the military could evaluate the imaginary wall’s “effectiveness” on troops deployed there. These guys are calling Trump’s bullshit, and they are loving every minute of it. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/02/21/dod-asks-dhs-for-data-to-justify-milcon-use-for-border-wall/
In a memo, dated Feb. 18, DoD asked DHS to identify “priorities for potential construction,” a U.S. official familiar with the memo’s contents told Military Times. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan is asking for a priority list, as well as the data used to generate that priority list, to help him determine“ what projects we support” and what could be delayed, the official said.
My emphasis. Yes, let’s see that “data used to generate that priority list”. Please show us your data Mr. President. I give the Acting Secretary kudo’s for having the balls to ask the question now, and I wish him well in his next position.
Trump believing that he can simply bark orders and the bulldozers and concrete all start moving just screams of not just how ignorant he is, but about his delusion that his mere words can make the government ofthe United States, and our military, fulfill his fantasy.
As for the projects Trump says funds can be taken from:
Most of those projects are the result of military communities’ elected officials lobbying — sometimes for years
You got that right. Years of politics before a military project even to gets to where my small hands touched it, and years more before any dirt would ever get turned.
I am very pleased to see the military leaders pushing back against Trump’s folly. I expect the White is House is going to be asked a lot more questions by the military and Congress. I hope the do continue to push back, just to expose how clueless Trump and his administration really are.