thought i would take a few minutes to tell you about my day and provide some inside information on how the military and our government really work. as a civil engineer corps officer for the navy, my community provides contingency engineering for the navy and marine corps (command of seabee battalions). but our biggest function is the facility management of all navy and marine corps shore establishments, and some air force bases. my current assignment is the resident officer in charge of construction office at the u.s. naval academy. in this role, i am currently the project manager of 6 contracts totaling $71 million. most of that is two large scale renovations of 2 academic buildings (approx $30 mil each this year).<br /><br />while i work for naval facilities engineering command (navfac), we are simply the executioners. we receive the money to do our job from a recently created organization called cni- commander navy installations. this echelon 2 command basically owns and operates all navy bases. there is no longer a commanding officer of a base, cni owns them. the co is just responsible for the mission of the base, but doesn't own the money to run it.<br /><br />as good americans, we all watched the president last night. the biggest message i took from him was that we were staying in iraq and sending more troops. now most people think, wow that's great or no, bad decision. either way you think, we all know it's going to cost a lot of money. and many people think it's coming all from them. other programs must be cut, taxes need to go up, etc. while this may or may not be true, i'll fill you in on what happens in the military. here's where my day comes in.<br /><br />less than 12 hrs after mr. bush spoke, cni passed message traffic to all commands. the message was simple- i am taking $300 million from you immediately. and i am not giving you any more for the rest of the fiscal year and probably longer. in my job, you can imagine my reaction this morning when i read the message.<br /><br />while i am simply involved in construction and capital improvement, others in my community are responsible for public works centers around the world. this same pot of money that cni is pulling from is where they get their money to keep bases running, keep the lights on, pick up the trash, mow the lawn, etc. while i expect zero funding for an indefinite period, these other services will also need to be cut.<br /><br />my point- cni instantly pulled $300 million from us today. i am sure the army, air force, and marine corps did the same. i would guess in 12 hrs, the military transfered over $1 billion dollars from their shore establishments to where it's needed most- the front line. we like to call it the tip of the spear.<br /><br />the military (and our govt) is more of a business than most think. we were faced with a challenge and we immediately made adjustments. this will severly hurt us in the long run- our bases will degrade, our training will suffer. but it was the right thing to do. we didn't expect mr. taxpayer to bail us out. we assumed the worst and moved our assets to where they were needed. we know we are at war.<br /><br />well, if you actually read all this, thanks. it was good to talk a bit. and i hope it opens your eyes, if just a little, to how we that are fortunate to be home are supporting our brothers and sisters on the front lines.
