The Virginian-Pilot
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The Hampton Roads-based Joint Forces Command could be headed for extinction if Defense Secretary Robert Gates adopts the recommendation of a Pentagon board to eliminate it.
A draft report issued by the Defense Business Board, an advisory group of former military officers and executives, calls for downsizing combatant commands, "beginning with the elimination of JFCOM."
The recommendation, which is not binding, comes more than a month after Gates initiated a broader effort to find $100 billion in Defense Department savings over the next five years through overhead reductions and efficiencies.
Based in Norfolk and with a campus in Northern Suffolk that emphasizes modeling and simulation, Joint Forces is one of 10 combatant commands. It brings all branches of the military together to work on several missions, including experimentation, training, capability development and force provision. Its operating budget totals $704 million.
Its commander, Marine Gen. James Mattis, has just been nominated to head U.S. Central Command.
The command's workforce, including locations elsewhere in Virginia and in Florida, is made up of nearly 1,500 military personnel, 1,533 DoD civilians, and 3,300 defense contractors. The advisory board's report criticizes combatant commands as "heavy" on "very expensive" contractors and staff.
The salaries those contractors receive and the command's investment in local facilities make Joint Forces an important cog in the region's economy. In Suffolk, for example, the command leases more than 642,000 square feet of space at a cost of $16 million. Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim said he finds it hard to believe that shuttering the command would save money. He said military officials have told him it has fostered cooperation and economies of scale between the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marines.
"Someone is going to have to perform the tasks that Joint Forces now coordinates," Fraim said. "It's going to cost money whether it's done like it's done now, or piecemeal, with each branch of the service doing its own thing."
Many of the military's most senior leaders "often come here to visit the facilities in Norfolk and Suffolk because of the great value that they add," the mayor said. "The war gaming and simulation exercises are extremely valuable to war preparation. They've got to do it somewhere, whether you call it a joint facility or let each branch perform its own version."
Gov. Bob McDonnell also was critical of closing the command.
"Its closure would not be in the best interests of our nation," said McDonnell, whose daughter Jeanine worked there as a contractor after leaving the Army. " In a dangerous and interconnected world, the Joint Forces Command is essential in ensuring the various branches of our military work together seamlessly."
Virginia Reps. Rob Wittman, Glenn Nye, Bobby Scott, Randy Forbes and Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner jointly issued a statement expressing support for the search for defense savings, but arguing that "doing it at the expense of the command that is leading the charge for the future of our military training efforts would be a step backward and could be harmful to the capabilities of the finest military in the world."
In an interview, Warner said he is puzzled that JFCOM has been singled out, because its use of modeling and simulation "is one of the areas where we save money."
U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Henrico, said that while all ideas to reduce wasteful spending and save taxpayers money should be reviewed, an accurate cost-benefit analysis and a review of impacts on national security are warranted "before any recommendation is given serious consideration."
Final board recommendations are reportedly coming in October.
Until then, it might be a waiting game as officials work through channels in an effort to avert the possible elimination of JFCOM.
Pilot writers Harry Minium and Marjon Rostami contributed to this article.
Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com
Overhead Task Group Presentation
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Take the contractor jobs and turn them into GS positions. About 10 years ago the move was to convert GS jobs into contractors. It's about 40% cheaper to hire the same person as a GS vice a contractor. The Beltway Bandits take their share of the money the government pays to fill that seat, then the person gets their pay. JFCOM needs to clean house, streamline and let the contractors go. As for so few military there, it's mostly officers now they did away with a large number of Navy shore billets there.
Always in the past if we went to war taxes went up, we have two unfunded wars going for the last what 10 or so years. Who's fault is that?
Why?
So they can have more gubment toads watching porn on NMCI?
heck....
And here I am, retired from the military, getting ready to retire from a state position, and interviewing for a contractor spot there....oh well!!
Civil Service is anti-military anyway
Since Civil Service is such a hot topic here, ponder this... when I suffered temporary insanity and went 'gubment' I get told on day one, that if I wanted my 10 years active duty to count for anything, I had to pay the Feds well over $10,000. Now, think about that. I volunteered, and gave up 10 years of my life, went to war, when many of my peers were here, soaking up Federal college loans that most have not paid back. Then they went 'gubment', and still weren't made to pay the money back. And, I get told if you want your 10 volunteered years to count, "cough up the dough Sailor". And, with the new FERS system, I couldn't even touch that retirement until social security kicked in anyway. If I retired at 48 with 30 years total Navy & Civil Service, I'd still have had to start another career until SS age. Contrast that, with private companies, who were glad and proud just to have a veteran and his/her experience.
that's so full of misinformation
Only the military get full retirement pay after 20 years, regardless of age. Nobody in the federal civil service (FERS) gets a 20 year retirement regardless of age, the that's old CSRS system that mirrored the military. It went away in the 80s.
1. $10,000 was to pay the SSI into the system that military were exempt from paying until the mid-80s, a small price to pay for adding 10 years to your federal retirement and getting full retirement benefits at 62.
2. The whole point of FERS is that you can walk away at anytime and take retirement with you. If you retire before 62, there is a cut in the benefit, but if you don't draw it until 62 you get the full amount.
3. The real power of FERS is in the TSP, like a 401k for federal employees. If you didn't top up FERS every month to get the federal matching, just like a civilian, you'd not end up with much of a federal retirement anyway.
Useless information
Plugging FERS is not what this thread is about. Secondly, who appointed you the moral authority to decide it's a small price to pay? Sounds like the nerve of truth has been struck with you. I.e., your Civil Service, your spoiled, over payed.... and you know it. Because only a Fed could justify the filthy idea of prior military being asked to pay thousands of dollars for years of military service which was something they gave of themselves to begin with. You Feds are worse than the mafia.
It was your call to
It was your call to volunteer, and technically, you probably got paid while you performed the duty. It's a job. If you regret that job, say so. But most jobs don't provide their holders with a lifetime of perpetual monetary compensation at the loss of others.
Yes
It was my call. And, of course I got paid while I was on Active Duty. But, no it is not a job. It's a duty and a service. But, some how I don't expect you have the slightest concept of those things. No, most jobs don't provide that. But, government workers do get it for doing far less and putting up with far less or no danger than those men and women on the battlefield. They make far more than Active Duty. And, their salary, is most definitely at others expense. It's at the expense of every tax payer.
I go to a job where I'm
I go to a job where I'm hopefully beneficial to society. I put some money away in a retirement account, where hopefully it can grow and outpace inflation.
There are a number of jobs that I believe are more dangerous, carry more risk, and are lower paid than military service.
Key word
You obviously were never in the military to make such ridiculous statement. Why don't you go wait in the airport, and when the troops coming home from Afghanistan walk by, tell them you believe your job is more dangerous than theirs, and tell them you think they make too much money for it.