JFCOM getting whacked???

[helolumpy]

This really shouldn't impact folks out there on the pointy end, but in the staff world, this might have some huge implications.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/09/gates-cut-major-military-command-norfolk-officials-say/

 

[Flash]

Shockingly enough the military did without it until very recently, I am certain we will do fine without it. They always struck me as the joint version of this guy:

 

[A4sForever]

From another article:

"Secretary [FONT=Verdana,Sans-serif]Gates took aim at what he called wasteful business practices and too many generals and admirals, and noted that "overhead" costs chew up as much as 40 percent of the Pentagon's budget."

This might get into somebody's rice bowl, but ....

When you have more Admirals & General Officers in uniform -- today -- with their associated staffs and hangers-on then we had during the peak of WW2 (when we had something like 14 million people in uniform) ... you know something's outta' whack. There is no way to justify all those staffs & their associated costs. Not to mention the (stationary) inertia (comes from [/FONT]the Latin "iners", meaning idle, or lazy ) that represents the high-water mark of [FONT=Verdana,Sans-serif]all too[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Sans-serif] many REMF's.

Commands used to represent a geographical arena of responsibility ... but now it seems whenever someone comes up w/ a new 'idea' or 'concept' ... a new command is born. I don't know whether or not JFCOM is the 'right' place to cut -- but somethin's gotta' give.

Perhaps this SecDef move will also put a damper on the cult of 'jointness' ... ??? Somehow, I doubt that ... [/FONT]

 

[helolumpy]

The biggest problem with JFCOM is that they employ (or more aptly "pay") a metric ass-ton of contractors. A whole lot of people will be losing their jobs if/when this happens.

For the Joint Staff this means they will have to deal with all the Global Force Managment issues that JFCOM presently runs, as well as pick-up a whole lot more of the Joint Doctrine development process.

On the good side, there won't be anymore "another great JFCOM idea being shoved down our throats"!!

Virginia lost one carrier already (GW to Japan), they are getting ready to lose another in a few years (to Mayport) and now they are losing a huge staff command.... Not a good time to be a Virginia imcumbant!

 

[HeyJoe]

Virginia lost one carrier already (GW to Japan), they are getting ready to lose another in a few years (to Mayport) and now they are losing a huge staff command.... Not a good time to be a Virginia imcumbant!

Tidewater "lost" GW, but gained Vinson for awhile (during recent RCOH and workups prior to departure in spring of 2010) and received USS Bush as 5th carrier at Naval Base Norfolk. West coast has them divided between Washington State, California and Japan with no more than 3 at one port (San Diego). Even though I live in Tidewater, half of the carriers and typically one under construction and another in RCOH yield a lot of benefits.

 

[PhrogLoop]

So who gets to move in to all those fancy offices in Norfolk and Suffolk with all the flat screen TVs and leather chairs? Fleet Forces and Second Fleet better call dibs before the Air Force guys pack it all up and light a bonfire...

 

[nittany03]

So who gets to move in to all those fancy offices in Norfolk and Suffolk with all the flat screen TVs and leather chairs? Fleet Forces and Second Fleet better call dibs before the Air Force guys pack it all up and light a bonfire...

US Atlantic Fleet, obviously. Change the name back from Fleet Forces Command, give it 2nd Fleet as its numbered fleet, and change who the Admiral calls "Boss." :icon_tong

 

[Jim123]

So who gets to move in to all those fancy offices in Norfolk and Suffolk with all the flat screen TVs and leather chairs? Fleet Forces and Second Fleet better call dibs before the Air Force guys pack it all up and light a bonfire...

The building onboard NOB really does like a dump on the outside, doesn't it? It is surprisingly nice on the inside though. The Suffolk campus is all around nice- reminds me of Office Space.

 

[Swanee]

The biggest problem with JFCOM is that they employ (or more aptly "pay") a metric ass-ton of contractors. A whole lot of people will be losing their jobs if/when this happens.

For the Joint Staff this means they will have to deal with all the Global Force Managment issues that JFCOM presently runs, as well as pick-up a whole lot more of the Joint Doctrine development process.

On the good side, there won't be anymore "another great JFCOM idea being shoved down our throats"!!

Virginia lost one carrier already (GW to Japan), they are getting ready to lose another in a few years (to Mayport) and now they are losing a huge staff command.... Not a good time to be a Virginia imcumbant!

I'm sure we'll see this fought tooth and nail by the local politicians, probably ending up in court. Bottom line is that Hampton Roads still has a metric shit ton of military in the area (With more than a couple major commands). The net loss isn't going to be that bad.

 

[HeyJoe]

So who gets to move in to all those fancy offices in Norfolk and Suffolk with all the flat screen TVs and leather chairs? Fleet Forces and Second Fleet better call dibs before the Air Force guys pack it all up and light a bonfire...

The "sponsoring" Component for JFCOM is Navy (USFFC) so they get first call on spaces if they want them (careful what you wish for). The main campus spaces at Norfolk were once part of Atlantic Command when the Atlantic Fleet Commander was dual-hatted as both, They were split apart back in mid 80s, but the budget submitting office (BSO) for ACOM was LANTFLT (similar conditions existed for SPACECOM with USAF as BSO; PACOM with Pacific Fleet as BSO). That was one detail Goldwater-Nichols didn't quite figure out and made it difficult for the Combatant Command 4 Star and his legacy 4 Star component command. Sometimes OSD had to weigh in during their review of the service POM submissions (COCOMs get to deal directly with JCS and OSD offices in that regard).

Note: the Sufolk spaces that remainder of JFCOM occupies were originally built for a Naval entity (believe it was associated with ASW) that was abandoned before they moved in making the spaces available (IIRC).

 

[helolumpy]

So who gets to move in to all those fancy offices in Norfolk and Suffolk with all the flat screen TVs and leather chairs? Fleet Forces and Second Fleet better call dibs before the Air Force guys pack it all up and light a bonfire...

JFCOM HQ on the compound will probably be put up for grabs.
Building X-132 on NOB was vacated by the JECC/SJFHQ a couple of years ago, don't know who has control of it now.

The Suffolk complex is huge, but I don't think JWFC is being closed down. The DOD study is to find redundant capabilities that can be reduced to save money; there is no one else doing JTF training, mentoring and analysis. JWFC will, IMO, remain as a stand-along command in much the same way many of the JFCOM subordinates (JCOA, JWAC, JPRA, JECC) will be cut-loose from JFCOM and will be stand along commands again.

 

[SkywardET]

Shockingly enough the military did without it until very recently, I am certain we will do fine without it. They always struck me as the joint version of this guy:

Some people say the same thing about the Department of Energy or the Department of Education, etc.

For a while there (especially with the the current administration) I was thinking that no serious consideration would ever be given to reducing the military's budget, but it appears that I may have been a little to early on that. Maybe with another dozen or so commands shutting down we can come up with 1/100th of the combined totals of the enacted "Health Care" bill and the proposed "Energy" bill.

Hmmm, my posts are more and more political these days. I need to just relax, I think. Surf down the rubble of the economy as it finishes collapsing, and so forth.

 

[nittany03]

Hmmm, my posts are more and more political these days. I need to just relax, I think. Surf down the rubble of the economy as it finishes collapsing, and so forth.

Just think of it as a Blue Light Special on stocks. As Warren Buffett sez, youse gets rich by being greedy when everyone else panics, and panicking when everyone else gets greedy.

 

[Flash]

The biggest problem with JFCOM is that they employ (or more aptly "pay") a metric ass-ton of contractors. A whole lot of people will be losing their jobs if/when this happens.

The DoD ain't a jobs program, people gotta get past that idea. And in today's age if you employ more contractors than civilians and military combined you are just waiting to get cut.

For the Joint Staff this means they will have to deal with all the Global Force Managment issues that JFCOM presently runs, as well as pick-up a whole lot more of the Joint Doctrine development process.

As they did before their responsibilities gradually got watered down by a succession of reorganizations that seemed to spawn more offices with more overlapping responsibilities. And from what little I saw JFCOM actually do with GFM the JS will have little problem taking on those responsibilities if need be.

Virginia lost one carrier already (GW to Japan), they are getting ready to lose another in a few years (to Mayport) and now they are losing a huge staff command.... Not a good time to be a Virginia imcumbant!

Pretty sad that military basing is now often treated as a zero-sum jobs game by politicians. Fortunately there does not seem to be much recourse for them in this case.

I'm sure we'll see this fought tooth and nail by the local politicians, probably ending up in court. Bottom line is that Hampton Roads still has a metric shit ton of military in the area (With more than a couple major commands). The net loss isn't going to be that bad.

I don't really see that happening but if it does that would be the legal equivalent of pissing in the wind.

 

[helolumpy]

Looks like the fight to save JFCOM continues...
Hope no one was waiting on that O-7 list anytime soon!

http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/10/26/dem-senator-standoff-dod-no-info-no-nominees