Local Politicians Pretend to Know More About Military Readiness than the SecDef

Predictably, the local governments of the Tidewater area have mobilized in their support of JFCOM, claiming to know what's best for the US defense posture, instead of admitting they're just trying to save local jobs.

Local political leaders will gather at 3 p.m. today in Suffolk to discuss a strategy for fighting the proposed closure of the military's Joint Forces Command.

The command employs about 6,000 people, most of them in Norfolk and Suffolk, and leaders are concered that its departure would be a devastating economic blow.

Gov. Bob McDonnell and the mayors of Suffolk, Norfolk and Virginia Beach have written to President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates urging a halt to the closure.

The mayors' letter to Obama, who hasn't said whether he will endorse Gates' proposal, was signed by Linda Johnson of Suffolk, Paul Fraim of Norfolk and Will Sessoms of Virginia Beach. Gates announced last week that he intends to shut down the command, known as JFCOM, and make deep cuts in private military contracts in a first step of a larger effort to reorganize military spending.

"Mr. President, we continue to believe the secretary's recommendation is without merit, and that JFCOM is critical to ensuring that our nation's military trains and operates in a joint manner that supports military readiness and budgetary efficiencies," they said in a letter sent Friday by the Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance. The alliance is a taxpayer-funded organization that lobbies on behalf of Hampton Roads cities and counties.

Here... let GrogNews rewrite this for you:

"Mr. President, we continue to believe the secretary's recommendation is without merit suitable consideration of the local job loss in our community, and that JFCOM is critical to ensuring that our nation's military trains and operates in a joint manner local tax base, employment statistics, and re-election chances remain high, that supports regardless of military readiness and budgetary efficiencies,"

I mean, really, the mayor of Suffolk is supposed to know more about joint military operating doctrine than the freakin' Secretary of Defense? C'mon people - just sack up and admit what this is: a blatant ploy for more local jobs off the federal teat. It is impossible for you to be on the right side of the operational decision here, so let's at least be honest about why you're on the wrong side.

By: Brant