Airmen's ideas sought to help cut wasteful spending

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Airmen's ideas sought to help cut wasteful spending

Posted 7/20/2011

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7/20/2011 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Undersecretary of the Air Force Erin Conaton sends the following message to the Airmen of the U.S. Air Force:

The White House continues to challenge all federal employees to help identify areas where we can cut wasteful spending. Over the past two years, 56,000 ideas have been submitted through the Securing Americans Value and Efficiency (SAVE) initiative. I am proud to say many ideas were submitted by our Airmen. I again encourage your participation. You have day-to-day visibility into opportunities to eliminate non-value added activity and wasted resources. In these challenging fiscal times, every dollar counts and every good idea matters.

Please go to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) website to submit your ideas by the July 29 deadline. Many of the best ideas will be included in the 2013 President's Budget submission. The person submitting the idea voted best among a top four selection (as judged across SAVE participants and OMB) will meet personally with President Obama.

You will find the criteria for evaluation of ideas defined at the OMB SAVE website. Let me remind all that classified information should not be included in any submission.

I again give you my thanks in advance for your participation in this year's White House SAVE challenge, and for what each of you do to make our Air Force better and the nation more secure every day.

Comments

8/7/2011 5:24:39 PM ET
I agree with the previous NCO's comment about the F-35. I talked to a former Air Guard commander recently who said the DOD can buy 2 plus F-16's for the price of an F-35 in today's dollars. Keep the F-16, F/A-18E and F, and Harrier production lines going and provide upgrades like other countries' military services do.

Dave Simon former SSGt MANG 1979-1984, Salt Lake City UT

7/26/2011 5:49:37 PM ET
How bout we cut the many inspections down into one? Looking at you LSEP, LCAP, ORI, ORE, etc. Good to have but they need to be shrunk to the most minimum possible. Continue the mobile doll project and also make some giant robots for human use instead of having a fighter jet that can do nothing else but be a useless fighter jet -- F-22 -- the giant robots can be used in construction when not in war. Already sent to the IDEA program and getting paid for the research...

Wolf 1, AL

7/26/2011 8:43:45 AM ET
What if we stopped paying a civillian 80Kyr to work 40 hrswk for a job an AIC can do for a quarter of that and more hrs? Also we can eliminate at least half the pointless training we do that have nothing to do with the real mission.

Thomas Batchelor, Tinker AFB

7/25/2011 1:55:29 PM ET
Shut down the af.mil media program and comment sections. Check and mate.

Wundy, MS

7/25/2011 12:27:04 PM ET
Kill the F35 aircraft program, save money by purchasing more F15 and F16 aircraft with upgraded avionoics radar and engines which they still could purchase 2 for the cost of 1. All our foreign (counterparts) are saving by upgrading their current air frames: ie Turkey has F4E Phantoms upgraded to a new model named 2020 which included a glass cockpit upgraded avaionics and F16 type radar at a big savings. We use our Phantoms for target practice, go figure the waste in that -- its called having champagne taste with only beer money to spend... hmmm whos in charge?

Retired SNCO, Ohio

7/24/2011 7:37:15 PM ET
Why do we have IDEA, AFSO21, and VPP? Don't all three of these programs have the same core purpose--to provide an avenue for improvement suggestion? Merge or eliminate.

Nick, DE

7/24/2011 4:05:12 PM ET
Do away with OLD airplanes and replce them with unmanned systems. Allow enlisteds to fly the unmanned systems and reduce the bloated officer ranks to actually what's needed.

Oscar Blackcat, Osan AB ROK

7/24/2011 9:25:13 AM ET
Let's eliminate 5 million a year in costs by not requiring federal civil service employees to wear their Reserve military uniforms when not on military time. What's that Good order and discipline Esprit de corp? Great job AFRC for wasting taxpayer money when we are SUPPOSED to be doing everything we can to SAVE money. It's likely a bunch of 3rd graders could better manage this MAJCOM and it's budget.

Same, Here

7/22/2011 7:45:00 AM ET
I have tried to stand up for over 10 years to the travesty that is our GSA and contract travel process. I asked a JWOD rep in a mandatory GPC source meeting why I am forced to buy an inferior product like the old pen for double the cost to meet the Equal opportunity process. I was told that I didn't have a choice. I also don't understand why the TMO/Government contracted PCS/TDY air travel is double the price and mandatory. Maybe we can start there!

David Brett, Korea

7/21/2011 5:29:04 PM ET
We should cut enlisted pay by 20 percent if you're not in a active war zone until you recieve your BS or BA, then recieve full pay when you get your degree, and then get all your officers from those who want to cross train out of enlisted. Stop getting civilians who just got out of college with no military experience and join as fresh Lts. The prior enlisted officers in my experience have been the better ones.

ShabbaDuece, OsanAB

7/21/2011 5:22:42 PM ET
Irony. The photo for this story shows an incandescent lightbulb. We need to shift paradigms again. Only CFL's should be depicted as the moniker for bright ideas henceforth.

jk, SAFB. TX

7/21/2011 5:17:55 PM ET
Cut down all the spending on these multiple going away sprees. Make it optional if a person wants a going away retirement separation dinner or not. Quit torturing these brave young men and women with all these mandatory fun days.Money needs to be spent on things that really matter like equiping persons with the correct protective gear they need when deployed. And fire the middle men and the others who are constantly coming up with brilliant wasteful ideas that haven't been thought through completely and didn't make sense in the first place to be considered. There are way too many people at the top that don't belong there. Also sending these civilians over places like Afghanisthan and paying them triple the salary to do what the military members are already doing plus putting themselves at risk. Let's leave the deployments to the airmen soldiers etc...

Hinklestankle butinsky, nyc

7/21/2011 3:50:12 PM ET
Agree with Cope: enough with the new flatscreens EVERY other year!

JN, FL

7/21/2011 3:22:16 PM ET
Our Squadron bought solar panels for our building almost 2 yrs ago and guess what we haven't even turned the system on because the batteries required to store the solar energy cannot be set up inside the building. Now we have to wait for a seperate building just for the batteries. This has been a tremendous waste of money due to the fact that everything should have been thought out ahead of time and not waiting for support buildings to be built to house key components to a so called energy saving device.

R.R., Eglin

7/21/2011 2:57:29 PM ET
The really sad thing is that every single one of you is right, all your ideas make sense and would have a huge positive impact on budget, but no one will ever care or apply these ideas -- it's sad but true. Yes there are flat screens everywhere. What do they think, that we will spend 10 minutes staring at the screen that says Conference Room This Way? You can tape a paper with an arrow. And why are they buying top of the line Buicks and other expensive cars for people in charge? They only use them for official purposes, so it's not like they can go on vacation with them. We need to be adults and admit our mistakes and start from scratch rather than patching up and covering mistakes.

Chris, JBSA

7/21/2011 2:19:42 PM ET
One thing I feel most people will agree with is that a lot of money has and is being wasted on the countless Utility or BDU or ABU uniform changes throughout all services. Obviously each service feels they are entitled to their own identity. The only thing that should matter is the name tape over each service members left breast pocket. For example the Air Force spent countless dollars trying to mimic the ACU and the end result was uniform with tiger stripes and is hotter than winter weight BDUs. Even today the Uniform Gods are still fiddling with it. Another item is all the services performed on base by contracted personnel to do tasks such as landscape maintenance and janitorial details. Whatever happened to units being responsible for cleaning their own bathrooms and building interiors? I understand that with more people deployed it leaves less people to do more work but when money is a hot topic you have to start tightening the belt.

Jon Escobar, Everywhere

7/21/2011 11:05:38 AM ET
As a retired aircraft maintainer, I say reduce the sortie rate for a change. Every squadron I worked in consistently pushed for more sorties year after year with fewer troops to do it with. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I'm sure the bean counters can tally up the cost savings of reducing the sortie rate by 10 percent each year. My guess would be a savings in the billions.

T Street, USA

7/21/2011 9:46:06 AM ET
Stop issuing flight suits to space operators. Do they need one just because they fly satellites or set behind a console? I've heard far too many enlisted fuss and complain about not having ABUs because they wear a flight suit all day. Where's that clothing allowance they're issued going?

Arctic Warrior, Colorado Springs

7/21/2011 9:28:11 AM ET
Get rid of the requirement for green boots. Many career fields now maintain three sets of boots - black boots to wear with blues, green boots to wear with ABUs, and tan boots to wear with multi-cams downrange. Eliminate green boots and that is one less set of boots that many squadrons are purchasing.

Caveman, Bedrock

7/21/2011 9:26:50 AM ET
Eliminate the AF Band.

MSgt F V - retired, Ireland

7/21/2011 9:02:07 AM ET
Lets be honest. Do we really need things like Tops in Blues, the Thunderbirds, and aircraft demo teams? Yes, they are nice and they do promote the Air Force but in time like this, programs such as these should be the first things cut. Just my 0.02

JM, AZ

7/21/2011 7:52:49 AM ET
How about finding one uniform and sticking with it. BDU's lasted for ever. Also I agree with SNCO retired but with the F-22. They only use that jet for exercises and air shows. It has yet to fly one mission in support of OIF/OEF. Stick with the F-15 and F-16.

SB, Ft Meade

7/21/2011 5:27:42 AM ET
Standardize aircraft tail markings.

Mike, RAF Mildenhall

7/21/2011 3:13:26 AM ET
Get the Air Force and military out of businesses that we shouldn't be in. Two examples are the academies and music. It costs so much more money for the military to create an officer through West Point, USAFA, etc., than through ROTC. Make those private institutions like VA Military Academy. Also eliminate almost all military bands. Have a few that TDY for very high-level events such as 4-star or presidential. There are too many manning slots used on tuba players when we need more in other career fields.

Paul, Afghanistan

7/20/2011 10:41:51 PM ET
Eliminate the Military Team USA womens soccer team which was featured in this website's photo section today. The photo showed them flying on a military aircraft to Brazil for what amounts to an intramural soccer game. What a joke and waste of funds and man hours. Eliminate all traveling military sports teams and preforming teams like Tops in Blue. All are waste of money and just feel good programs that would not be missed. Also agree with SNCORetired to scrap the F-35 and upgrade our current aircraft while continuing to test future technology should a formidable threat arise that our upgraded F-15s, F-16s and F-22s can't handle. Finally, moderators need to leave this story on the front page of the website for more than just a few hours so more people can actually see it and comment instead of throwing it up there then quickly moving it to the archive to hide. We've got to get serious about cutting spending and if we can't manage to cut some of the fluff programs that have zero e

Ken, Florida

7/20/2011 5:13:25 PM ET
How about we stop using full size V8 GOV's and replace with a more fuel-efficient not to mention cheaper-to-buy vehicle? Ex. a V-6 F-150 with a full bed can still pull what we use them for. You cut fuel consumption down here by half with a more fuel efficient vehicle, less fuel used, less fuel we have to import here. Now tell me how much we spend porting in millions of gallons of fuel to an island 3,000 miles across the pacific. Everyone else is going green. Why isn't the most powerful military force in the world still not implementing this concept?

NAZ, Guam

7/20/2011 3:59:27 PM ET
Eliminate ORIs They're just smoke and mirror shows for the IG anyway.

BT, Moffett Field

7/20/2011 3:51:20 PM ET
Make IEU like the Army's - when someone gets issued something - hand reciept it to the member with a financial obligation. When you get kicked out, seperate, or outprocess, a unit asks for everything back - if the member lost it or won't turn it in make him or her financially responsible for it. Nothing in the Army is free, unlike the Air Force.

BS, KS

7/20/2011 2:48:04 PM ET
Eliminate functional conferences -- most are a waste of time -- use VTC capability. Eliminate travel authorization for all PME graduations -- make it pay your own way and allow PTDY. Colleges don't pay for people to attend graduations.

Chief W-Retired, Tennessee Valley

7/20/2011 2:45:06 PM ET
Why is this necessary Isn't findingeliminating wasteful activities and spending a part of everyone's job in the first place

J, WPAFB OH

7/20/2011 1:49:12 PM ET
As an IMPAC card holder, I have seen some of the things SW talked about. I wish that I wasn't tied to shopping at the LCI store for all of our squadron's needs. Sometimes you can find better deals off base than you can on base.

R.R, Eglin

7/20/2011 1:30:42 PM ET
These days the September wish lists are more like July wish lists because Finance yanks the money away on the first of August.

PB, US

7/20/2011 1:19:13 PM ET
Quit putting a flat screen in every room of every building.

Cope, TX

7/20/2011 12:45:56 PM ET
Wasteful spending begins at the highest level. Suggest we shut down the F-35 program as really wastful spending. Keep the F-15, F-16 production lines open and just upggrade the avionics and radar like our foreign countries have already done with their F-4 Phantom 2020 models. We could purchase 4 to 6 F-15s or F-16s for the cost of one F-35; just keep testing as a low-grade future replacememnt but go foward now with replacements for the ageing fleet with what you already have in production. That is a cheaper alternative being ignored by the management. Come on guys! Show all by example of good leadership.

SNCO retired, USA Home sweet Home

7/20/2011 11:36:49 AM ET
Stop September wish lists and spending sprees. Reward units who realize savings throughout the year and end up returning funds to the treasury instead of pushing for last minute obligations. Funding should be issued based on future strategy and requirements, not prior-year spending rates and amounts. Appropriations laws really need to be updated. They encourage fiscal irresponsibility instead of enforcing against it.

SW, OK

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