Congress Orders DoD to Justify Enlisted Aides for Generals, Admirals

It seems to me that Congress always wants everyone to rationalize themselves but Congress never does it on themselves.

I've served as a temp aid as needed from time to time and its just like the civilian world, you have to justify what you need. How many people does it take to run your office? PV2 (Join to see) hits it out of the park.

My last assignment was rife with Generals.. ..22 in one location in Afghanistan, 8 Go's in another were I spent most my time.

Most of the GO's I worked with, (my unit) had three "aids" an enlisted driver, and enlisted admin, an officer aid decamp. And all were worked well and truly hard.

A few of the GO's took advantage of rank / position and treated subordinates as servants. last i heard she did not make it much farther. But that was just the exception .. all the others truly respected the enlisted folks that were assigned (chosen) for them

I'm fine with DOD having to justify their GO aids.. check and balances.. Sounds like a good idea for congress and senators as well.

Congress is going to spend time trimming "fat" by concentrating on this issue? Which genius in Congress got this idea? I hereby request permission to examine Congress operations and go on a "fat-trimming" mission myself.

While we're at it lets have them justify them having their own personal jets too.

I love how we have to justify for a position that already exist on a pay roll to congress but they can do what they please with out really having to justify it. I remember when the Government was getting ready to shut down a reporter asked why should congress get payed if the government gets shut down but others don't. His reply was he has bills he needs to pay and he is working. I laughed and turned to my wife and go man glad my rent and other bills arnt real.

These jokers who are leaning on the DOD and the Pentagon must know that payback is a B**** and we plan to take more than a pound of flesh politically and it won't be nice....

SMSgt Duffy,

Saw that too. No names, it happened, followed by a swift retirement when exposed to the light of day. Now, a Sr. NCO who gets too "friendly" with a female subordinate get everything he has coming to him under the UCMJ. In this era of PC, even the accusation of impropriety is enough to trash a good man's name and career. As for Congress, well, P.J. O'Rourke said it best in his magnificent work, "A Parliament of Whores"....

Does this mean they're going to start justifying their Congressional aides on an individual basis?

Ok, comparing Congress to the military isn't realistic. They get theirs first and we get the leftovers. It's always been that way and always will. Regarding the military, all I can draw on was what I saw back in the 80's and 90's. These observations are only my subjective experience and it's too long ago to dig up the stats. If you wanted to make a bet on who would get promoted Below-The-Zone, or get Stripes for Exceptional Performers, bet on it being the General's Aide. Forget the Security Forces troop guarding a B-52 on midnight shift in a winter at Minot ND, the guy with leather hands from wrenching a jet, the admin troop holding the Squadron together, the missile troop going down a silo to troubleshoot a nuke, or the Comm troop working 14-16 hours a day trying to keep a deployed unit in the desert connected. The troops on the line just didn't get the time in front of Senior Leaders, but they were the glue that made he Air Force work. The Aides had a tough job that I would never do, but what I observed was they got the early promotions. I might get a lot of hate for saying this, but I didn't see a lot of justice with the system, and if Congress doesn't authorize the billets, and they set the rules, the Services shouldn't be scrounging around trying to make them up.