chevysoldier Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 This is a hell of a read...yes it is quite long.http://news.yahoo.com/special-report-pentagons-payroll-quagmire-traps-americas-soldiers-215045729.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pokey Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 (edited) This bothers me beyond words, how can the government treat the men and women who serve like this? We have all these piece of shit worthless and lazy people that get one perk and free thing after another, and those that truly deserve to have their ass kissed get fucked over? And to think that my only child is shipping out to Ft Benning June of next year to serve his country. Examples like this make me realize that we are a country overflowing with lies and deceptions, with heartless mindless government workers who are not held accountable for the mistakes that they make. How some people can sleep at night just amazes me, having a conscience for some is a very tall order. Are we truly the greatest country in the world? Edited July 10, 2013 by Pokey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevysoldier Posted July 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Tell him to keep an eye on his pay and if he gets more than what he's supposed to, do not spend it. They will take it back. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbot Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 i've dealt with dfas (from a vendor perspective), and you're right... when something goes wrong, NOBODY in the normal channels know what to do. you have to go through endless "try this person" or "that person" queries within DFAS, and it eventually took concerted efforts from both the contracting office, and the local contract administrator office to press DFAS for action. When it doesn't go wrong, it works fine. I gather that, overall, things go ok considering what a fucking mess they have to deal with to make it all happen. I'm betting that if we worked in that office, we'd be amazed that anyone gets paid at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbarron77 Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 I've worked on computer systems in the Army('90-95), and the main issue is each department has their own computer system, with their own support staff, and they do not communicate between systems very often(nor very cleanly). Also, the majority of the IT support staff are DOD civilians who are jaded(and protected by their Union) and just don't care. This kind of waste and abuse of our service members makes me ashamed of our country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkow97 Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 A very good friend of mine worked for DFAS for a few years before leaving to take another job in the private sector. Based on what I remember from casual conversations about his work, the following might be of interest: - Jack said that the volume of money they deal with is so immense (remember, they're auditing ALL defense expenditures, including orders for hundreds of $40M aircraft) that it would take well over $1M of error for any single project to get a second look. With Soldiers' pay, I'm not surprised a few thousand here and there goes unnoticed, and is low on the priority list when it's brought to their attention. That doesn't make it right, but in their eyes - remember, these are accountants - they're sweating the BIG stuff, and not the small stuff. The human impact is not something they can quantify with the dollars and cents. In my eyes, THAT is the fundamental flaw. They need a separate agency to deal with personnel expenses so that these "low dollar" errors are given the attention they deserve. - I believe "DFAS" is not technically a government agency, but rather a private company that is contracted exclusively by the United States government. If that's accurate, that means that they theoretically could be fired and replaced. Their entanglement with the government makes such a solution unlikely, but it is an option. I think this is a private-sector failure that has perpetuated because the government has managed their vendor poorly. These types of errors have gone on for decades, but DFAS hasn't been fired. I doubt there have been any real consequences. I'd like to see individual case-workers assigned to various soldiers. The case workers ought to have their paychecks withheld until the soldiers' compensation issue is resolved. I expect that would produce quicker results for all involved. I'll send this article to Jackson and see if he has any comment. I expect a one or two line reply with something to the extent of "they don't know their asses from their elbows in that place. That's why I quit." standby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smashweights Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 Like they said in the article: with all the US has accomplished, how are things like this still going on? Look at any major company today and see if they struggle this immensely. And the issues aren't just in DFAS, their electronic medical records we use are pretty awful and have cost billions to develop. Yet somehow we have 4 different programs and none have all the information healthcare workers need... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdonn Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 (edited) Um, no... DFAS falls under The DoD. It's managed by high level brass (military personel). I work for DISA which is also under the DoD and I can tell you, there are some lazy people. However, the majority of us care... Help/support the war fighter in all ways possible. The issue is, duplicated services and politics. Each agency of the DoD has an IT department but then we have an enterprise IT Agency (DISA). Politics get in the way with things like money, policy's, and now... The furlough. I am a 10 year Army vet with over 30 months served deployed. While I may be a little fat, in no way does myself nor my team screw our military counterparts over. Do not think political policy's are the federal employees fault. DFAS is doing a ton of work with less people and 20% less pay for the next 11 weeks. Then, after October, it'll all start again. Edited July 12, 2013 by jdonn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdonn Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 (edited) Also, the majority of the IT support staff are DOD civilians who are jaded(and protected by their Union) and just don't care. I apologize for whatever issues you had with the civilian work force 20 yeas ago. However, do not discredit everyone because of a few bad apples. Marking all 700,000 DoD employees as "shit-bags" as a result of your small units support is a disservice to the rest that not only did their jobs, but also had to deal with government shut down (1991 for about 18 days). Talk about giving Mr. Middle class a reason to say "fuck it". Edited July 12, 2013 by jdonn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbarron77 Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 I apologize for whatever issues you had with the civilian work force 20 yeas ago. However, do not discredit everyone because of a few bad apples. Marking all 700,000 DoD employees as "shit-bags" as a result of your small units support is a disservice to the rest that not only did their jobs, but also had to deal with government shut down (1991 for about 18 days). Talk about giving Mr. Middle class a reason to say "fuck it".^^^ I said Majority of the IT Support staff are jaded, not "shit-bags". The jaded comes from not having any support from the higher ups, and never getting any appreciable type of pay increases. Comparatively, their(the IT people) counterparts in Industry make up to 5 times more than they do. Plus, I was specific to IT, not the 600,000+ other DOD employees, especially since my daughter has been one of those DOD employees for the past 5 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdonn Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 ^^^ I said Majority of the IT Support staff are jaded, not "shit-bags".The jaded comes from not having any support from the higher ups, and never getting any appreciable type of pay increases. Comparatively, their(the IT people) counterparts in Industry make up to 5 times more than they do.Plus, I was specific to IT, not the 600,000+ other DOD employees, especially since my daughter has been one of those DOD employees for the past 5 years.In that aspect, you are correct. However, if they are jaded due to their salary, then they need to leave the gov. Serving for the DoD and our service members is supposed to be just that... Support for the Americans serving in our military. The issue is, some forget that and think they are owed more because of the work they do. If that was the case, trash men would be some of the highest paid persons due to the importance/nature of their job. Yes, we haven't had a pay raise for over 3 years and are now being furloughed... Honestly, I am looking for an additional job to alleviate some of the furlough burden. I do wish the American populous would have more inside into the sequestration but... National media has a way of not showing the important things and centering on crap that doesn't matter. There are people out there (a lot working for DFAS) that are GS-5's making less then 35K that now are losing 20% of their pay. You don't hear crap about that on the news... The DSCC in Whitehall has around 30-40 thousand people working there... Most are subject to this... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScubaCinci Posted July 14, 2013 Report Share Posted July 14, 2013 My son comes home form Afghanistan this week and he has about 1 more year left in. I'm trying to convince him to GTFO when his time is up because of shit like this. Soldiers are treated so poorly these days and it keeps geting worse while, as mentioned, illegals and lazy bastards continue to get handouts left and right without any problem at all. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smashweights Posted July 14, 2013 Report Share Posted July 14, 2013 Soldiers are treated so poorly these days and it keeps geting worse while, as mentioned, illegals and lazy bastards continue to get handouts left and right without any problem at all. +1,000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohdaho Posted July 15, 2013 Report Share Posted July 15, 2013 My son comes home form Afghanistan this week and he has about 1 more year left in. I'm trying to convince him to GTFO when his time is up because of shit like this. Soldiers are treated so poorly these days and it keeps geting worse while, as mentioned, illegals and lazy bastards continue to get handouts left and right without any problem at all. Has your son been through a similar issue with DFAS as the subject article? If not, that is a horrible reason to get out of the marines. Granted there are probably close to a hundred other reasons to GTFO of the Marines. There's actually more services available to our active duty forces today than there were decades ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScubaCinci Posted July 15, 2013 Report Share Posted July 15, 2013 (edited) Has your son been through a similar issue with DFAS as the subject article? If not, that is a horrible reason to get out of the marines. Granted there are probably close to a hundred other reasons to GTFO of the Marines.There's actually more services available to our active duty forces today than there were decades ago.He's actually in the Army but no, AFAIK he hasn't. There have been numerous other things though. Such as- he hurt his knee (likely cartilage tear, they refused to do an MRI) during mountain training in CO and they basically told him they wouldn't fix it and if he spent any more time rehabbing it (he spent ~ 3 days in the infirmary) they would just medically discharge him. So he had to continue training with a bad knee and has a lot of pain associated with it. Basically, they have too many enlisted and are looking for excuses to muster them out.BTW, after his platoon and wives/families were informed a few days ago they would return home this weekend, they were told today that now it will "sometime before the end of the year". I guess I'm canceling my trip to Ft Campbell Edited July 15, 2013 by ScubaCinci Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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