Military Memes

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Diablos said:
Has it ever ended?
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Lol...generally, I have no idea. But our unit took them up and cut them to pieces after people were buying all sorts of...ah, non-essential items. Honestly it was so bad JAG was involved. One sailor got busted for buying rounds at a strip club in Oceanside.

I was way to scared too use it for anything other than official business. But I DID learn how to game the system: I would call a hotel, a cheap one, and tell them that I needed them to send me a letter stating they were full (which always worked, they were more than happy to), or try to book a room just before I needed it, knowing it would likely be full. Then, I would get a room in a very nice hotel. Once I had documentation that there was no other place to stay, they had to pay. Didn't work that way for food, though.
 
Chuckman said:
Lol...generally, I have no idea. But our unit took them up and cut them to pieces after people were buying all sorts of...ah, non-essential items. Honestly it was so bad JAG was involved. One sailor got busted for buying rounds at a strip club in Oceanside.

I was way to scared too use it for anything other than official business. But I DID learn how to game the system: I would call a hotel, a cheap one, and tell them that I needed them to send me a letter stating they were full (which always worked, they were more than happy to), or try to book a room just before I needed it, knowing it would likely be full. Then, I would get a room in a very nice hotel. Once I had documentation that there was no other place to stay, they had to pay. Didn't work that way for food, though.
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You had to get cash back after shopping for food to get your single mom support funds.
 
Per diem...don't talk to me about per diem.

Uncle Sam, in its infinite wisdom, changed the per diem rules a few years ago in an absolutely ASNINE way.

Let's say that I'm going to travel to Kings Bay, GA for engineering support. Let's call per diem there $50 a day (because I can't remember what it is exactly, and this is a nice, round number).

Per diem is $50 a day then, right?

Well...not quite. It's REALLY $50 a day for the first 30 days. Then it drops down to 75% of this afterwards...$37.50.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

That 75% decrease is RETROACTIVE to the first 30 days.

That's right...if I stay in Kings Bay for 30 days, then my per diem is $1,500 for that month. If I go ONE DAY OVER THAT, I get $37.50 for the 31st day and have to PAY BACK $375 for the first 30 days.

That, my friends, is a no-sh*tter. Supposedly, this was done as some kind of money savings move (riiiiiiight....).


Soooo...what does the shipyard do when engineering support is required for more than 30 days? Simple. They pull the first engineer back before he goes over 30 days and send another. This way the first engineer doesn't have to pay back $375.

So, let's do the math on THAT, shall we?

Let's say the engineer drives his own vehicle from the shipyard to Kings Bay and back...mileage is a wee bit over 50 cents a mile, but we'll call it 50 cents for ease. It's about a 600 mile trip, which means a round trip costs the government $600 for the 1,200 miles driven.

So, at the 30 day point, the first engineer is sent back to the shipyard and another engineer is sent to replace him. The result? Uncle Sam pays an additional $600 in travel expenses to do this, no reduction in per diem results (because the first engineer didn't go over 30 days), which means the government did NOT save $375.

End result? The government actually LOSES $600 PLUS the #375 they COULD have recovered. Almost $1,000.


Now, the clock is reset on the first engineer after a 30 day period with respect to this per diem reduction fiasco. Which means he can be sent out to relieve the other one again after he's been there for 30 days...and the two can cycle like this as required to cover the job. Which means Uncle Sam wastes $6,000 if it's a 6 month job.
 
Oh, and government credit card use:

I have a government credit card used for my travels for the shipyard. We all receive mandatory training on it, of course, for what it can and cannot be used for. I don't play games with that card. The ONLY things I use that card for are hotels, car rentals, and gas for car rentals. That's it. This way there's no possible way I can screw up and use it for something I'm not authorized.

Everything else is out-of-pocket for me, as I'm reimbursed when I submit my travel claims for things like food (per diem), taxi to and from airports, mileage to and from hotel/work for my POV, etc.
 
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