Originally Posted by
Melchett01
Jimlad,
I've seen some pretty bizarre decisions over the years from senior officers, so the military really isn't in a position to throw too many stones. But equally, since getting more HQ and Staff appointments in recent years I have noticed a trend that where financial and contractual decisions are being made, whilst there will likely be military staff input, many decisions are predicated on a Finance-type's spreadsheet in J8 being made to balance with little regard for whether the decision makes practical sense.
Agree, but equally the J8 types are only making decisions based on the funding that they've got to last an entire year, and that what may seem an annoying issue locally (and god knows I've experienced this a lot) may actually be essential if cash is to be available in the next quarter to support other activities on unit/sqn/base etc. Perhaps the problem is more about being able to communicate 'why computer says no' in an effort to show the bigger picture?
The question is often who makes these financial decisions that result in this budget - and there are plenty of mil and civ in those chains. What frustrates me is the deliberate attempt in some quarters to blame the CS and absolve the mil of any guilt, and pretend that the mil is powerless to resolve this. We're one united team, and the sooner we all play like a team, rather than trying to blame a bit of it, the better we will do.