Originally Posted by
ORAC
Having watched David "Grind My" Axe turn the wheel at the V-22 over the years, I'd take anything he writes with a grain of salt.
The slow-motion collapse of the combat squadrons could
This kind of sensationalist language is packaged that way for novices and ignoramuses to consume. The one piece I recognize from when another Democratic President was in office is this one
The Marines’ wish list for 2017 includes a staggering $800 million for warplane spare parts
We ran into the same problem in the 90's in (at the very least) P-3, SH-60F, and SH-60B squadrons. O&M funds get/got raided since they are the most accessible. With the cut backs in the last three years, gee, Who Saw This Coming? (Anyone who is familiar with DoD funding and
programming).
Axe pretends that spares for current inventory and APN-1 acquisition projects are the same thing. They aren't. By law the money is a different color for each. If he's such a
ing expert, he'd know that. But he isn't.
In his defense: the problem he describes, the extended deployments and the home training squadrons having few up birds is a very real one. Always has been. Deployed forces get supply priority over home based forces. That's a decades old story.
The conclusion Axe draws from this is ... well, his usual line of manure.