People outside "the system" find it just impossible to believe that the beancounter mentality, i.e., budget/money issues drive every aspect of DOD, even on issues of life or death for America's grunts.

While discussing the current dispute over body armor with a retired Marine colonel and friend of 32 years, I recently learned of an incident that drives home this ugly truth in a clear, straightforward way that is worth sharing.

In 1972, a Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed in Japan. Some of the crew died in the crash, but not all. A team from NavAir (Naval Air Systems Command)  in Washington came out to determine the cause of the crash and recommend any required technical modifications that might be "appropriate." (And, by appropriate, I mean not just technically warranted, but justified on the basis of costs.)

There was a meeting in the maintenance office of the squadron (based in Okinawa) from which crashed helo had deployed. In attendance were two Marine captains -- a pilot and a maintenance officer -- a mastergunnery sergeant from the maintenance shop, and a civilian engineer from NavAir. (My source for this anecdote is the Marine pilot who attended the meeting.)

The cause of the crash had been identified: a gear carrier in the aft transmission had dropped, and there was no device ("safety ring") in place to prevent it from dropping to the point where the aircraft's operation was immediately and adversely effected.

Such a device had been recommended by the manufacturer but the NavAir/Marine Corps program managers had declined to accept the extra cost for installing the device. At the time of this 1972 meeting, the cost of the safety ring itself was about $9 or $10, plus the labor costs of installing in each of the several hundred CH-46's then flying in the Navy and Marine Corps.

The NavAir civilian engineer made a point of wearing his coat and tie, even in the oppressive humidity and heat of Okinawa, as a signal of his being an important person from Washington. (The Marines at this meeting got his message, but not in a way that this smug desk jockey had intended. Instead of being intimidated by his subtle message, they were more than slightly annoyed at the display of Washington bureaucratic "oneupsmanship" out in a forward operating base. )

While discussing the technical findings from the crash investigation, and agreeing that the root cause was the absence of the safety ring, the Marine Maintenance Officer (a former enlisted aircraft mechanic who had been commissioned a Limited Duty Officer), said to the NavAir civilian, "This [lack of safety rings] is killing people."

The NavAir civilian made the mistake of speaking truth to the wrong Marine when he responded, "We don't have enough blood yet to warrant the additional money to fix these things."

At that point, the Marine Maintenance Officer rose out of his chair and cold-cocked the NavAir civilian with one punch.

If there is a better example of the beancounter mentality that drives DOD decisions, even life and death ones, I am not aware of it.

Whether the issue is forcing America's grunts to wear second-best body armor, of DOD's lackadaisical and typically bureaucratic response to the IED's in Iraq and Afghanistan, the ugly truth is that Congress, the Pentagon and the defense industrial complex are concerned almost exclusively with money, with budgets, with who gets what share of the taxpayers' contributions to national security.

At the end of the day, after the last notes of taps have sounded at Arlington National Cemetery for the latest 19-year old grunt's burial, the beancounters shut down their spreadsheets and go home. They'll watch the evening news clips from the Green Zone with casualty numbers from the latest IED's as they sip their favorite conscious-numbing drink, or take their drug of choice.

And they'll go to bed, dreaming of their next promotion, and the accompanying ability to control even more millions/billions of dollars.