I served starting at the tail end of the Vietnam war up through some of the carter years
and I know what it is like to run on a tight budget.
I remember in Strategic Air Command, when they said we could not order parts to repair aircraft
because we ran out of budget, and had to Cannibalize.
Basically move equipment around from one broken plane plane to the more important broken one.
This is on "Alert" aircraft, you know the ones armed with Nukes? or the other alert aircraft that supports
the potential attack missions.
Not a pretty picture.
I know there is a lot of waste in the military, but most the waste is in the
administrative areas, the political players. The guys that give out and manage contracts.
That is what should be fixed.
Too many "woke" generals and Democrat Party directed social micromanaging.
Our military is now way less capable than when Reagan handed it off to Bush 1.
And way more expensive.
One of the major efforts Reagan initiated was to revitalize the military. Budgets for men and materials were provided huge increases over 5 years. I entered the service the year after salaries started going up significantly. The goal was to make the military jobs competitive with the private sector, so the military could attract AND KEEP more skilled members and not have to rely so heavily on contractors.
It's true that having plenty of money leads to more fraud, waste and abuse, so they also instituted more programs with bounties for anyone who saved the government money. Lots of people cashed in on those programs. Some of the submissions were simple changes to procedures that prevented fraud or made acquisition of parts more cost effective. If they saved Uncle Sam $50K/year, they's share in those savings -- $10% if memory serves.
The Buff fleet (B-52) is an amazing thing. Everyone flying and maintaining the aircraft were born after the planes were put into service. Sometimes parts are needed but no longer in stock or produced, so a fabricator is contracted to make some to original specs. That's expensive. Sometimes one plane can be decommissioned and provide parts for dozens of others.
Each problem in government, including military-related, will always be "solved" with more money according to politicians. So, as pilot shortages, surges in the Middle East, and now recalling troops from the Middle East occur, more money is needed.
I think the biggest waste in all government offices is the baseline budgeting process. We spend money at the end of each fiscal year to make sure we can justify even more budget the following year. If you give back money you requested last year, they are going to assume you can operate with less cash going forward. Spending 100% of your allocated funds by year end has become a joke in most units as they buy new tablets, Big Screen LCD TVs, 34" Computer monitors and all kinds of neat-o software -- things that were never planned in the budget but can be authorized the same day to get rid of the funds.
I don't mind spending $100 on a bolt or $500 on a toilet seat as long as the justification is "it needs to meet specific specs." But, when we were told for 11 months the budget was too tight to allow us to travel and attend conferences that are directly part of our jobs, but we have a few hundred grand to blow on luxuries in the 12th month is maddening.