Xi calls for smaller but more capable army

[JSCh]

Given the discussion in this thread, I think this is relevant in the sense of efficiency of military.

Pentagon buries evidence of $125 billion in bureaucratic waste
By Craig Whitlock and Bob Woodward December 5 at 6:47 PM

The Pentagon has buried an internal study that exposed $125 billion in administrative waste in its business operations amid fears Congress would use the findings as an excuse to slash the defense budget, according to interviews and confidential memos obtained by The Washington Post.

Pentagon leaders had requested the study to help make their enormous back-office bureaucracy more efficient and reinvest any savings in combat power. But after the project documented far more wasteful spending than expected, senior defense officials

moved swiftly to kill it by discrediting and suppressing the results.

The report, issued in January 2015, identified “a clear path” for the Defense Department to save $125 billion over five years. The plan would not have required layoffs of civil servants or reductions in military personnel. Instead, it would have streamlined the bureaucracy through attrition and early retirements, curtailed high-priced contractors and made better use of information technology.

The study was produced last year by the Defense Business Board, a federal advisory panel of corporate executives, and consultants from McKinsey and Company. Based on reams of personnel and cost data, their report revealed for the first time that the Pentagon was spending almost a quarter of its $580 billion budget on overhead and core business operations such as accounting, human resources, logistics and property management.

--> Pentagon buries evidence of $125 billion in bureaucratic waste - The Washington Post

 

[gambit]

No sure what point you try to make.

The point is that you guys take criticisms -- legitimate ones -- about the PLA far far far far faaaaaaaaaaar too personally. From my 10 yrs in the USAF, and I love those yrs, not even the Marines took criticisms about their service the way you guys so often responded about the PLA. In fact, the Marines will most likely join you in grousing about the Corps.

For those who have never served quite often they act even more 'gung-ho' than the active duty and veterans do. Their talks of war and combat came straight from video games where the mental and physical stresses can never be replicated. None of you know what it is like to receive orders to deploy and the first thing you do is check your will, and this is before your 20th birthday, then you check your 'mobag' (mobility) for all the required items.

Put me into any country's flying squadron, and in less than 30 minutes of interacting with the crew, I will get the general attitude and 'vibe' of the squadron. There are many things that are common to all military members regardless of country. From what the US Marines and the Royal Marines say about each other, you mess with one, you will face both.

So if you care about the PLA, take it from a veteran and take those criticisms seriously. All the points I made in post 4 page one, the first thing I said was about education. Not about creating more shiny new toys. The PLA has serious foundational problems that for nearly 20 yrs of reforms, the Chinese government is still struggling to resolve, corruption and incompetence the two main items. The 'stealth' fighter and the training aircraft carrier ? That is like putting a $10,000 paint job on a car with rust on the frame and a leaking engine that struggles to keep the car running. Education will not fix those problems in the short term, but for the long run, a genuinely professional military education program will set a new foundation for the coming generations of Chinese soldiers, sailors, and airmen.

I say this not because I have any emotional attachments to the PLA. I have no problems if the PLA is like that broken car for the next thousand yrs. Am saying these things out of professional interests and this is a public forum, after all.