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While Troops Travel in Squalor, Air Force Brass Choose Swatches for First Class Cabins
On Friday I noted the controversy over two related Air Force projects designed to provide senior military officials with "world class" aircraft accommodations. Outfitted with such first class perks as flat screen TVs, leather chairs, and "aesthetically pleasing" wall and ceiling treatments, the multi-million dollar projects, known as Senior Leader In-Transit Conference Capsules (SLICCs)—first referred to as "comfort capsules, according to Air Force documents—and Senior Leader Intransit Pallets (SLIPs) were the subject of a letter from the Project on Government Oversight's executive director, Danielle Brian, to Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week. In it, she wrote that these programs, which were partially financed with counter-terrorism funding, illustrate a "disconnect between the senior leadership of the Air Force from the increasingly pressing needs of servicemen and women"—particularly given the "deplorable state" of the seat pallets used for troop transport.
Well, POGO has obtained several pictures of the interior of a cargo plane taken at Al Udeid Airbase in Qatar. And it's not pretty:
Meanwhile, here's a mock-up of a SLICC:
And a SLIP:
I think it goes without saying that senior military leaders deserve to travel in comfort, and require privacy in order to carry out their responsibilities. But if the picture above is indicative of the state of military cargo aircraft in general, then the top Air Force brass are going to find it difficult to explain why they were picking out carpet swatches while the troops were headed to war in squalor.
Comments
This is a cargo plane you said?
I don't know how the military goes about transporting personnel, whether they now use designated troop transports strictly for troops or what, but could it be that this seating area has been used as an auxiliary cargo area, and that accounts for the condition of these seats?
Maybe nobody but a few cargo-area crewmen sit in that area, and they reserve a few good-condition seats for themselves?
Perhaps someone with direct & recent knowledge of how the military transports troops overseas can answer all that.
(I'd ask my Dad, but he crossed the Atlantic on the Queen Mary in '42, loved the ride, and came home in '45 on some little washtub that kept him seasick the whole time.)
Troops do have to ride on cargo hops at times.
Posted by: sra on 07/21/08 at 4:32 PM Respond
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Posted by: Droolius Sneezer on 07/21/08 at 12:05 PM Respond