TO THE AIR FORCE, for its plan to spend $7.6 million on so-called “comfort capsules” to ferry senior officials aboard transport planes. Even if you buy the Air Force’s argument that the luxury seat- and berth-capsules were cheaper than dedicated VIP planes, the attempt to pay for them for the first three years with supplemental war funding was shockingly misguided. Did the Air Force really want Congress to believe that its urgent wartime needs included 37-inch flat screen TVs, beds, blue leather couches and full-length mirrors? VIP transport is a wartime requirement; extravagance is not.

http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2008/09/3702861

$7,600,000 works out to approximately 3,200 Round-trip, First Class, (I'm so dumb that I just take a cab to the airport and buy my tickets), fares between New York and San Francisco. It works out to approximately 4,500 "Economy Flexible" round trip tickets between the same two places.

Given the frequency with which the commercial airlines fly between major destinations, I seriously doubt that there are going to be all that many "Gosh, Gee whiz, we only found out about it and you have to leave within two hours" flights that couldn't be accommodated on commercial airlines.

I rather suspect that an organization as big as the USAF could probably organize even more flights for the same price - assuming it actually wanted to do something rational rather than buying really expensive "people pods".

And, given as well that the government of the United States of America gives the commercial airlines rather substantial payments each year to ensure that those airlines will put their aircraft at the disposal of the US government (for the full commercial rental rates) [even if the aircraft aren't needed {which should NOT be confused with a "subsidy"}] I strongly suspect that the US government could possibly arrange really cheap rates from the airlines who want to continue to receive that "standby, on call, retainer" {which should NOT be confused with a "subsidy" - even though a "subsidy" IS a payment for which you don't actually have to do anything}.

The Air Force has lost its focus. From lost nuclear control, reduction in personnel to pay for F-22s while the rest of the military is at war, SECDEF rebuking the service's refusal to provide ISR, the tanker deal, to firing the Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Air Force. Oh... let's not forget Air Force personnel officials manipulating expeditionary assignments to reflect them as being more deployed than they actually are. Someone fix the Air Force NOW. Stop the insanity. To the new Chief of Staff, wearing service dress on Mondays is not going to fix anything.

This particular 'dart' from AFJ is undeserved. The senior leaders carried by the AF includes leadership from all services and congressmen etc visiting the war zone. I don't know about you, but I want decision makers to arrive in Kabul, Baghdad, Balad etc alert enough to really see what is going on and ask the right questions. In addition, the labor of Sr Leaders (reading, writing, emailing, thinking) can be done in transit but neither rest nor work occurs very effectively on the web seating of a cargo aircraft. I'm confident the front-line troop would much rather have a congressman or general getting the sleep he isn't, so the decisions that come from the top make some sort of sense. Another decision from an exhausted beltway lackey with a stack of unread information doesn't do that troop any favors.

In addition, while flat screens and special colored furnature isn't needed, the cost is also negligable in military procurement terms. It's disingenuous of AFJ, which should be infinitely familiar with the silliness and waste that is DoD procurement to point out these items. No military programs or budgets return excess dollars, because that means the budget is that much smaller next year. Do our in-theater troops hanging out in the large FOBs really need lobster tail, shimp, and steak? No. However the real cost is in the shipping not the food. The same principle applies for the VIP capsules. The real cost is in the design & manufacture, not the items decorating the capsule.

There is a larger more serious issue that BlueDart is missing with regard to the Air Force comfort capsules - it is their credibility! Air Force leadership has lost any shred of credibility it once maintained.

The relative size of this expenditure is irrelevant.
The fact that this was not included in the Air Force baseline budget request but was tossed in with the warfighting supplemental request is reprehensible. If this was a valid concern from their leadership and was something that was needed then it should have been included in the budget vice a request for additional funds to maintain current operations. This was an attempt to get something past Congress.

The Air Force is not alone in asking for items on their supplemental request that have only a tenuous link to the current operations but in light of the horrible press the service has received over the last few months, one would expect their leadership would take a close look at what they were doing and look for those issues that will only make things worse.

The service has lost its way and needs the new CSAF to define who they are, where they are going, and how they will get there.