John Sukey
09-02-2009, 09:59
From a former Air force Colonel
First, let me say that I've moved three presidents up to now and I've seen incredible waste, But, the "new guy" really takes the cake.
I don't have an issue with the president promising his wife dinner and a show or that he even takes his wife out.
But, when I saw the news say that the date cost $24,000, here's what you DIDN'T KNOW
Three days before "dinner" a C17 flew Marines and the helicopter maintenence equipment to JFK Airport.
The day before "dinner" I flew the Secret Service and the motorcade to JFK Airport
Our crew of five spent two days and nights at the Hilton in Times Square. My hotel bill; $621.66 plus $64 a day in per diem.
The Secret service guys were at a different Hilton in NYC, so figure that cost another $14,000(or so) plus per diem. The Marines had to have cost as much and were there four days, so figure another $55,000 plus per diem (for 44 Marines)
We were supposed to fly the motorcade back and go home, but the Air Force was so short of C-17's that we were re-tasked to take the motorcade back, return to JFK, and take the helicopter back to Quantico
When we got back to JFK, while the pilot was turning the plane around to park, he noticed a rotor blade sticking out of the hangar where the helicopter was parked and informed me that either it wasn't ready to transport, or it was flying home. After shutting down, I walked over to the hangar and to my surprise I found FIVE helicopters, not ONE!
We're obviously not transporting five big helicopters. I want and talked to the Marines buarding the "fleet' and found that they were flying all five helicopters home and we were only transporting the marine(s) in charge
I was told that the White House had REQUESTED FIVE helicopters. The Marines told me that they spent all morning trying to figure out how much it cost them to come, and said they figured it cost them $140,000 to stay there (I don't knoiw where they came up with that) and the trip's total cost had to be about $1,000,000:eek:
We heard that the President didn't use Air Force One (the 747) so I asked if he came in one of the 757's. I was told that he came in on THREE Air force Lear jets.
So, date night consisted of 2 C-17's flying three missions,
3 Lear jets,
6 Helicopters,
Presidential motorcade
44 Marines, More than 20 Secret service personnel.
PLUS what it cost the NYPD and NY Port Authority (at the airport) in overtime
These are the SAME people who chastized the automobile CEO's for using their aircraft. It further proves that the media use only the facts that make the president look good and hide any facts that detract from him
Now think about this, people are losing their homes to foreclosure,
People are losing their Jobs because of the economy
Folks are getting food packages from Charities.
BUT DA MESSIAH can spend around $1,000,000 of OUR TAXES to take his wife to a show and dinner!
First, let me say that I've moved three presidents up to now and I've seen incredible waste, But, the "new guy" really takes the cake.
I don't have an issue with the president promising his wife dinner and a show or that he even takes his wife out.
But, when I saw the news say that the date cost $24,000, here's what you DIDN'T KNOW
Three days before "dinner" a C17 flew Marines and the helicopter maintenence equipment to JFK Airport.
The day before "dinner" I flew the Secret Service and the motorcade to JFK Airport
Our crew of five spent two days and nights at the Hilton in Times Square. My hotel bill; $621.66 plus $64 a day in per diem.
The Secret service guys were at a different Hilton in NYC, so figure that cost another $14,000(or so) plus per diem. The Marines had to have cost as much and were there four days, so figure another $55,000 plus per diem (for 44 Marines)
We were supposed to fly the motorcade back and go home, but the Air Force was so short of C-17's that we were re-tasked to take the motorcade back, return to JFK, and take the helicopter back to Quantico
When we got back to JFK, while the pilot was turning the plane around to park, he noticed a rotor blade sticking out of the hangar where the helicopter was parked and informed me that either it wasn't ready to transport, or it was flying home. After shutting down, I walked over to the hangar and to my surprise I found FIVE helicopters, not ONE!
We're obviously not transporting five big helicopters. I want and talked to the Marines buarding the "fleet' and found that they were flying all five helicopters home and we were only transporting the marine(s) in charge
I was told that the White House had REQUESTED FIVE helicopters. The Marines told me that they spent all morning trying to figure out how much it cost them to come, and said they figured it cost them $140,000 to stay there (I don't knoiw where they came up with that) and the trip's total cost had to be about $1,000,000:eek:
We heard that the President didn't use Air Force One (the 747) so I asked if he came in one of the 757's. I was told that he came in on THREE Air force Lear jets.
So, date night consisted of 2 C-17's flying three missions,
3 Lear jets,
6 Helicopters,
Presidential motorcade
44 Marines, More than 20 Secret service personnel.
PLUS what it cost the NYPD and NY Port Authority (at the airport) in overtime
These are the SAME people who chastized the automobile CEO's for using their aircraft. It further proves that the media use only the facts that make the president look good and hide any facts that detract from him
Now think about this, people are losing their homes to foreclosure,
People are losing their Jobs because of the economy
Folks are getting food packages from Charities.
BUT DA MESSIAH can spend around $1,000,000 of OUR TAXES to take his wife to a show and dinner!